Bangladeshi workers of a garments factory in Jordan continued their strike for the fourth day yesterday protesting cutbacks in wages and irregular payments by their employer with no solution to the issues as yet.
The authorities in Jordan, where strikes are illegal, also did not allow the workers to enter the hostels they live in, Mohammad Manik, a worker, told The Daily Star over telephone from Jordan yesterday afternoon.
Bangladesh Ambassador to Jordan Golam Mohammad skirted a direct reply when asked about problems of the workers, particularly disallowing them in the hostels, but said Jordan authorities hate any sort of strike, and a few workers were injured when police baton-charged them on Tuesday.
Asked yesterday where the workers were staging the strike, he just said, " The workers continued their strike till today (Wednesday)."
Around 400 Bangladeshi workers of al-Bunayyat-based MRAI Apparels in Jordan are on strike from Sunday. They said their employer has been deducting Jordanian Dollar (JD) 25 from their monthly wages of JD 110 ($150) in the name of meal, accommodation and medical costs, which were supposed to be free of costs.
The company also does not pay overtime regularly, said a worker, Mohammad Manink.
The ambassador said he met officials of Jordanian labour ministry yesterday and sent his representatives to MRAI Apparels to talk to the employer.
"We are negotiating with them so that they reduce the amount of fees they charge now for meals, accommodation and medical facilities. Let us see … We hope to reach a consensus tomorrow (Thursday)."
The employer may be a little late in paying wages for some reasons but that does not mean workers have to go on strike, especially when strike is illegal in Jordan, Golam Mohammad said.
"Employers, particularly garment factory owners are willing to hire workers from Bangladesh because they are efficient, and it is less costly to hire them. But the main problem is they go on strike," he said.
Even if they had problems, they should have first informed the embassy but they did not follow the normal procedure, the envoy added.
There are around 25,000 Bangladeshi workers in Jordan, mostly in garment factories.