Rejoinder, our reply
Dragon Sweater Bangladesh Ltd has sent a rejoinder to a report headlined "Jobs Taken, Benefits Too" published in The Daily Star on April 27.
"It has come to our attention that a news article was published titled 'Jobs Taken' dated 27/04/2021 on The Daily Star -- the article wrongly claimed that Dragon Sweater DHAKA factory was closed permanently since March 26, 2020, and never reopened. It is to be noted that the factory had temporarily shut down from March 26, 2020, due to the Covid-19 lockdown and subsequent order cancellations, however the factory restarted operation from April 16, 2020, and is now under full operation," said the rejoinder sent by Md Mahbubur Rahman, head of the factory's Human Resources and Public Relations.
About whether the factory was open or not following the lockdown, the newspaper report cites workers and employees of the factory, who were served a factory closure notice, never received a note saying the factory is re-opening. A similar narrative was found across the board, in the case of multiple workers interviewed.
The Daily Star's correspondent tried reaching the Chairman of Dragon Sweaters Ltd, Md Golam Kuddus, over phone multiple times, but the calls were neither picked up nor was his text messages responded to.
The rejoinder further stated, "It was claimed in the article that many workers still haven't received their dues. The actual fact is that a tripartite agreement was made under the supervision of government officials between the workers and the management for the settlement of the workers. And, accordingly, all workers had been paid within the stipulated dates."
The report, however, mentioned the agreement.
The Daily Star has found multiple workers who were not paid their dues and has included some of their narratives in the report. The newpaper also cites a report by Worker Rights' Consortium titled "Fired then Robbed", which claimed that Dragon Sweaters still owes workers their money.
The rejoinder went on to state, "However some 25 officers out of 89 decided to violate the agreement and claimed a prefabricated compensation amount. The matter is now under judicial litigation at a labour court. Abdul Kuddus and others mentioned in the report are not workers in the factory and were management staffers. They are legally accused of vandalism and for instigating workers and for actively engaging in the pilferage of company resources."
The newspaper report mentioned that there were multiple cases filed in a labour court against Dragon Sweaters by its former workers. It also mentions that Dragon Sweaters filed lawsuits accusing Kuddus and others of vandalism.
According to Kuddus' lawsuit against Dragon Sweaters, Kuddus, as a floor manager, is a worker under Article 2(65) of Bangladesh Labour Act 2006.
"The report was initiated to malign our organisation and its hard-earned reputation globally."
The report was not initiated with any malafide intentions and we stand by it. We thank Dragon Sweaters for their rejoinder.
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