Efforts on to clear Eid pay on time: BGMEA

The government and factory owners are taking steps to ensure timely payment of salaries and festival bonuses of 44 lakh garment workers to avert any unrest ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.

“We are getting ready to clear the payments ahead of Eid like previous years,” said Mahmud Hasan Khan, vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

As in previous years, the garment makers will soon hold zonal meetings to identify factories which may struggle in clearing the payments, he said.

There are 15 zonal crisis management committees for workers in different areas, including Dhaka, Gazipur, Ashulia, Chittagong, Savar, Narayanganj and Narsingdi.

“We did not receive any complaint or any news of dispute regarding the salary payments yet as Eid is still a way off,” said Khan.

“Firstly, we will identify the vulnerable factories and warn the owners so that they pay in time.” The BGMEA never pays the workers from its own fund but in most cases it helps to manage funds from banks in crisis moments, he said.

The association will stand by the factory owners who may fail in making the payments, Khan said.

“The BGMEA leaders will mediate with the banks, with which the owners do everyday transactions, to help them avail quick loans.”

“In most of the previous cases we have mediated with banks…This initiative worked well and we manage to avert the crisis efficiently,” he said.

The meeting of a national crisis management committee would be held at the ministry on May 29, said Mujibul Haque Chunnu, state minister for labour and employment.

The committee is normally headed by the minister/state minister of the labour and employment ministry. Since its inception in 2010, the committee held its meeting ahead of Eid every year to ensure that the payments are made smoothly.

“From the meeting with stakeholders, we will instruct when and how the owners will pay workers ahead of the Eid festival to avert any unrest,” Chunnu says.

He, however, declined to comment on media reports that over 100 garment factories might be unable to make the payments.

“I did not receive any such list yet from any agency or any quarter. I cannot say anything in advance,” said Chunnu.

“We are observing the situation in different zones. Still everything is calm,” said Md Nawsher Ali, director general of the Industrial Police of Bangladesh.

“We will also make a list of vulnerable factories soon after the ministry meeting,” he said.

Many garment factories have to postpone their shipments because of liquidity crisis, which ultimately create obstacles for them to clear the payments before Eid, industry insiders said.

Majority of the garment workers are scheduled to go back to near and dear ones in their village homes to celebrate the Eid festival, the tentative date of which is June 16.