Eid bonus, wages to be cleared by Saturday

Over 60 percent of garment factories have paid wages for July and over 75 percent paid festival bonus till yesterday, Abdus Salam, director general of Industrial Police, said yesterday.

“We are hoping that the rest of the factories will complete the payment of both wage and bonus within the next two days (Friday and Saturday),” Salam told The Daily Star over the phone.

“Although primarily some 325 factories were on our vulnerable list, most of those units have already paid the monthly salary and bonus,” he said.

“We do not foresee any untoward incident in the garment sector before Eid as almost all the factories will finally pay their workers.”

Meanwhile, Rubana Huq, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said, “To the best of our knowledge, more than 98 percent factories have cleared bonus.”

“Till day before yesterday, we had only 5 factories out of 130 on our watch list and they have also cleared bonus.”

Till now, nearly 80 percent of the factories have cleared wages, rest 10 percent will do it by tomorrow and last 10 percent by Saturday, she said.

“Please note that as per government’s request we have declared holidays in a split fashion. So, workers are leaving zone-wise,” Huq said.

The labour and employment ministry in a statement said 95 percent of the 3,400 active BGMEA-affiliated garment factories have completed paying Eid bonus until yesterday. It said all the factories would complete the payment of salaries and bonus to the workers before Eid.

The statement said 92 percent of the 1,083 active Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association-affiliated factories have completed paying festival bonus until yesterday.

These factories will also compete the payment of wage and bonus before the Eid festival, it added. The banks in the industrial areas will remain open until August 10 to facilitate the payments.