Bangladesh Garment Sramik Sanghati, a RMG workers’ platform, yesterday held a rally in front of Jatiya Press Club demanding a review of the declared wage of Tk 12,500 along with an end to the arrests of workers agitating for fair wages.
It also demanded release of Babul Hossain, general secretary of the organisation, claiming that he was arrested in a false case.
“Workers Anjuara, Russell, and Imran were shot dead. What was their crime? What is our crime? We are protesting for the sake of the workers,” said Taslima Akhter, president of the organisation.
“The owners are looking for conspiracies and politics in the workers’ movement. There is nothing political here. The workers have a constitutional right to basic necessities. They are protesting against unfair wages to press home their demands. The profit from the RMG sector must be shared with the workers,” she also said.
“The owners have threatened to suppress the movement but we won’t yield to this fear. Babul Hossain was arrested on November 14 and kept hidden for 20 hours. After that, he was sent to jail and placed on remand on charges of vandalism in an anonymous case. Not only Babul but many workers have also been arrested,” she added.
Taslima demanded the authorities concerned to revise the minimum wage to Tk 25,000 and release all workers and labour leaders including Babul Hossain and withdrawal of all false cases against them. RMG workers have long been demanding their minimum wages be raised to Tk 25,000.
On November 7, Monnujan Sufian, state minister for labour, formally announced Tk 12,500 as minimum salary for the garment workers.
Rejecting the announcement, the leaders of some garment workers’ platforms opined the amount is not sufficient and their expectation was not met, and announced to continue their agitation demanding higher salary.
Since then there have been a string of workers’ agitations and sporadic clashes between workers and law enforcers, which saw several workers’ death and arrest of hundreds of others.
