Several thousand workers of Beximco Group factories held a mass rally on Tuesday demanding reopening of all the factories located inside the Beximco Industrial Park in Gazipur.
Witnesses said that the workers and local people held the rally at Suncity at around 2:30pm where trade union leaders also were present.
The job is their source of income, the workers said, adding that if they lose their jobs they will face acute financial crisis.
They chanted slogans such as 鈥榃e want work, not alms鈥�, 鈥榃e want to live with our families鈥�, and 鈥極pen the factories.鈥�
Garments Workers Unity Forum president Moshrefa Mishu said that they would wage a tougher movement if any worker lost their job.
She gave an ultimatum to the government to reopen the factories within 24 hours.
She also proposed nationalisation of the Beximco units.
Last year, Beximco Group laid off nearly 40,000 workers across its apparel units, citing a lack of work orders for its export-oriented garment and textile factories located in Gazipur, on the outskirts of Dhaka.
The group issued notices on December 15, 2024, informing all officials, employees, and workers that lay-offs would take effect the following day, December 16.
On January 20, a state advisory council meeting was convened at Bangladesh Secretariat to discuss ways to sell the 16 factories inside Beximco Industrial Park in Gazipur, preferably to foreign entrepreneurs.
However, the council could not decide on the sale, citing the need for further scrutiny of the group鈥檚 bank statements.
