Ashulia Labour Unrest: Trouble began after trade union meet

The labour unrest in the industrial belt of Ashulia began following a regional meeting of a workers trade union on November 25, several workers and union leaders said yesterday.

Garment Sramik Front, one such trade union, distributed leaflets and announced a demand for pay hike through megaphones for several days after the meeting, said Khairul Alam, a local leader of Garment Sramik Trade Union Kendra, another workers' union.

At the meeting of the Sramik Front of Savar, Ashulia and Dhamrai, workers' leaders demanded that the minimum salary be increased to Tk 15,000 from 5,300 a month, said its secretary Ahmed Jibon.

Leaflets with a proposed salary structure were also distributed that day, he said but denied the allegation that they had distributed leaflets or made any announcements afterwards.

Meanwhile, detectives on Friday night picked up a TV journalist from the area allegedly for inciting the unrest. He was shown arrested yesterday in a case filed with Ashulia Police Station.

The arrestee, Nazmul Huda, local correspondent of ETV, was accused of “inaccurate reporting” on workers' protests in Ashulia, according to a senior officer of the Detective Branch of police, reports AFP. 

According to Khairul, “The problem began when regional leaders of the union [Garment Sramik Front] announced the demand for the minimum wage of Tk 16,000 a month.” 

Leaders of the Sramik Front held several meetings with leaders and workers of Ashulia garment units before the unrest, said workers of Ashulia-based garment factories -- Ha-Meem Group, Windy Apparels Ltd, Medlar and Starling Creation.

They claimed that local trade union leaders instigated the unrest.

Garment workers want their wages to be increased but at the same time they want the factories to be reopened so they can work, said workers of several garment units in Ashulia.  

“We want to work as we have to make rent and buy food,” one of them said preferring not to be named.

The unrest for salary hike was confined to a few units initially but then it spread as workers of other garment factories went on work abstention as well, according to workers.

“Some local union leaders even forced workers to go on strike as they did not agree to go for strikes,” said a worker of Windy Apparels.

The November 25 meeting was held at a place close to Windy Apparels, which is probably the reason why the strike began from this factory, he added.

The management of Windy Apparels has so far terminated 277 workers of its two units. Five factories located in Ashulia filed several cases against 1,500 workers.

Police arrested 27 people including union leaders, the journalist and local BNP leaders for their alleged involvement in the unrest, police said.

AFM Syed, of the DB (Dhaka North), said detectives arrested 12 people. The DB has been investigating two cases filed with Ashulia Police Station.

However, Mohsinul Kadir, officer-in-charge of Ashulia police, said 26-27 people had been arrested in connection with the unrest and seven cases were filed with the police station.

In another development, Siddiqur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said five trade unions wrote to the BGMEA and the government, requesting to open the 55 factories that had been shut in fear of a spillover of the unrest.  

“If the trade union leaders and workers want, we will reopen the factories soon,” he said.

The BGMEA at a press conference last week announced the closure of the factories when workers took to the street demanding the wage hike.

Ashulia is known as a hub of more than 350 most compliant garment factories. The contribution of the factories amounts to 20 percent of the total export of garment items of $28 billion in the last fiscal year, according to industry insiders.