Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday asked the garments factory owners to pay wages of workers properly in a bid to upgrade their living standards. The premier made the call after inaugurating the 5th Bangladesh Knitwear Exhibition 2009 at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel in the capital. She also hinted of conspiracies behind the recent unrest in the garment sector.
Owners closed at least eight garment factories in Dhaka city and its adjacent areas in last three moths allegedly without maintaining the factory laws. Labour leaders claimed that several thousand garment workers were thrown out of jobs and deprived of wage and allowance arrears due to abrupt closures. The National Alliance for Protection of Garments Workers and Industries leader Abul Hossain said the owners had no right to close their factories before clearing workers’ dues.
Bangladesh garment exports to Japan may increase to two billion US dollar within a couple of years should the country get duty-free market access to that country under relaxed rules of origin. With over $24 billion annual imports, Japan apparel market is very much selective that demands capacity development of Bangladeshi exporters, speakers said at a discussion, organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue, a think-tank.
The benchmark price index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) on Sunday neared 3400-mark, reaching at all time high of 3392.02. The index surged on the week's opening, fuelled mainly by pharmaceuticals, power and energy, textile and service sectors' issues.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association has sensed a campaign of industrial sabotage in Saturday’s protests of garment workers at Tongi, which, its leaders have said, was aimed at crowding out the country of the global clothing market.
A meeting attended by ministers, garment factory owners, workers and BGMEA leaders on Sunday decided to introduce trade union in the garment sector to deal with problems of the apparel industry.
A German business delegation, which left Dhaka Friday, has shown keen interests in buying more ships from Bangladesh. Peter Clasen, head of the 21-strong group that visited the country from Oct 25-30, said Bangladesh offered skilled but cheaper ship building compared with China, India and Vietnam. Local ship builders have said Bangladesh could fetch up to $1 billion in ship orders if the country could increase the number of ship building yards to six from the present two.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the home ministry to take necessary action against the authorities of the garments factory responsible for the violent incident occurred in Tongi of Gazipur on Saturday.
At least four people including two police personnel were reportedly killed and over 200 others injured in clashes between ready-made garment workers and law enforcers at Ershadnagar of Tongi in Gazipur on Saturday.
Commerce minister Faruk Khan on Thursday told the Parliament that it would be difficult to sustain the country’s garment sector, which earns 78 per cent of the country’s total export revenue, without finding a solution to the problem of workers’ unrest. Answering a question by Awami League lawmaker Shariar Alam of Rajshahi, he said the government had taken various initiatives to resolve the unrest and is trying to find out whether any labour organisation was instigating the violence by workers in Bangladesh’s garment sector.
