Ganatantrik Odhikar Committee, a platform working for democratic rights and freedom of expression, on Monday demanded the payment of apparel workers’ due wages and bonus before Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the biggest religious festivals of the Muslims.
It made the demand with workers of different readymade garment factories taking to the streets demanding the payment before Eid-ul-Fitr which will be celebrated in the country on March 31 or April 1.
The platform also demanded ensuring fair prices of agricultural products for farmers.
On behalf of the platform, Ganatantrik Odhikar Committee member and former Jahangirnagar University professor Anu Muhammad in a statement condemned the death of a protesting apparel factory employee recently during a protest demanding due wages and bonus.
The statement accused the government of not taking any effective steps to address workers’ demand for minimum wages and the opening of factories after the student-led mass uprising.
‘We believe that authorities must take responsibility for the death of the employee and provide appropriate compensation,’ said the statement, demanding that the government must take effective measures to end such oppression.
‘We have come to know that 250 workers of Stylecraft Limited had been protesting in front of the Shrama Bhaban at Bijoynagar in Dhaka for the past five days, demanding their due wages for 14 months and Eid bonus,’ said the statement, adding that a senior assistant manager of the company Ram Prasad Singh Jony suffered a stroke and died during the protest.
About 700 workers of TNZ Group’s Apparel Plus Eco Ltd have been protesting for their due wages and Eid bonus since Sunday morning, mentioned the statement.
The statement also said that workers in four tea gardens, including Kalagul, Burjan and Charagan, in Sylhet had not been paid their wages for 14 weeks and rations for eight weeks.
The platform observed that cold storage owners oppressed the potato farmers by increasing potato storage fees.
‘Although the potato production is more than the demand, farmers are unable to store potatoes in cold storages and forced to sell potatoes to syndicates at prices much lower than the production cost,’ said the statement.
‘We are observing a similar phenomenon in the case of tomato and onion farmers,’ said the statement, mentioning that such uncertainty and deprivation of the workers and farmers did not match with the expectations of the mass uprising.
The platform observed that there was carelessness of the ministries concerned regarding the issues.