Over one hundred readymade garment factory units in the country are yet to pay wages and allowances of December, 2024 to their workers within the first week of February, which is approaching its end.
According to Industrial Police鈥檚 data submitted to the home ministry, the factories from the country鈥檚 six industrial hubs are as follows: 18 units from IP-1 (Ashulia), 55 from IP-2 (Gazipur), 12 from IP-3 (Chattogram), 14 from IP-4 (Narayanganj), 4 from IP-5 (Mymensingh) and 1 from IP-7 (Cumilla) 鈥� total 104 factories.
A source from the IP said that the meeting on law and order situation was held on the last week of January and as of that date, the number of factories was 104. However, as the factories pay frequently, the number might have changed as of now.聽
Meanwhile, the country鈥檚 RMG manufacturers denied the list and said that the data might be collected earlier. The number reduced significantly in the last week of January, and it is now about 20-30 RMG factories or less, they claimed.
Talking to 抖阴精品, Rezwan Selim, a member of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association鈥檚 assistance committee, said that if such a large number of factories were yet to pay their wages, it would have been impossible to run them.
鈥業f you follow the list of our closed factories, you can find that a small number of factories are closed and they aren鈥檛 closed due to wages issues. I cannot agree with the list,鈥� he added.
According to the IP data, most factories are delaying payment of wages due to financial crises and some factory units also said that they could not pay wages and allowances due to the financial crisis and lack of purchase orders.
However, a number of factory owners, whose names were on the list, denied it, saying that they had already paid the wages and allowances to their workers, though they still owed wages to their staff.
Most of the factory owners denied providing any comments when contacted.
Sheikh Abdullah, managing director of Al Muslim Washing Limited, a factory located in the Savar area of Dhaka, denied providing any comment after repeated attempts.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Selim, head of administration of Alema Textile Limited, said that they had paid the wages of their workers, but were yet to pay the wages of their staff. He also said that they paid their salaries in the third week of January.
Regarding the name of their factory in the IP鈥檚 unpaid list, he said that the IP most probably collected the data earlier.
Khalid Hasan, managing director of Mashihata Sweaters and Mega Yarn Limited, said that his finance department could provide information about wage payments.
Talking to 抖阴精品, Salauddin Swapan, general secretary of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Federation, said that several RMG factories were yet to pay December鈥檚 wages. However, he could not tell the exact number.
鈥榃e always rely on the IP about the list. However, as the IP works on real-time data, it may happen that in two or three days, the number can change,鈥� he added.
Talking to 抖阴精品, AKM Johirul Islam, SP of IP-2 (Gazipur), said that the number changed daily as the factories paid their workers. So, the number of factories on the list seemed to be collected earlier, which will reduce significantly if an updated list is made, he said.
Due to the global economic turmoil, domestic political transition and fuel and energy crises, a number of RMG factories have struggled to run at full capacity for a long time, which has impacted their earnings.
