Demo for salary hike: 12 factories shut amid workers' protest in Gazipur

At least 12 garment factories of Gazipur were declared closed after workers resumed protests demanding a minimum monthly wage of Tk 23,000.

Superintendent of Gazipur Industrial Police Sarwar Alam said the authorities kept 12 factories in Kashimpur, Konabari and Naojor areas shut on a "no work, no pay" basis.

Meanwhile, around 700-800 people gathered in front of Danish and Ima factory in Kashimpur Ward 5 of Surabari in the city around 9:30am.

Police fired teargas shells and dispersed the protesters, the witnesses and workers claimed.

AKM Ashraf Uddin, officer-in-charge of Basan Police Station in Gazipur, told The Daily Star that like other days, the workers started protesting in Kashimpur area of Naojor demanding an increase in salary.

Police reached the spot and brought the protest under control, the OC said.

On Tuesday, the wage board for garment workers has set the minimum salary at Tk 12,500, a little over half of what workers are demanding.

Union leaders have rejected the new minimum wage put forth by the wage board, which accepted the proposal of factory owners' representative Siddiqur Rahman.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) yesterday urged workers to return to work and said the new wage structure would be implemented from December 1.