Garment workers block roads in Mirpur to demand payment of wages

Dhaka – Nearly a hundred workers demonstrated on streets in Dhaka’s Mirpur neighbourhood to demand payment of outstanding wages as the owners have allegedly shut the garment factory without any notice, police said on Sunday.

The workers of the Zaara Jeans & Knitwear Ltd took to the street in the morning asking the authorities to pay wages the arrears of four months and their overtime allowances.

They put barricade on Mirpur intersection, near the location of the factory building, halting the vehicular movement on the first day of the week. The commuters suffered as the vehicles stuck in tailback, said Salhuddin Mia, the officer in charge of local Shah Ali police station.

He said his team was trying to remove the demonstrators from the streets, but they denied. They said that they would not leave the place until the owners come and open the factory, and pay off the wages and allowances.

The officer said that he contacted the owners, but they are holding meeting with the leaders of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association to resolve the problems.

According to the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments database, the Zaara Jeans & Knitwear Limited is located on the Zoo Road of Mirpur. It has a total of 983 workers. SM Rezaul Islam is the chairman of the factory.

The factory website, however, did not mention about its products and foreign buyers.

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