Savar Workers Block Highway in Mass Protest; 300 Factories Shut Down

Garment workers held protest rallies in Dhaka, Gazipur and several other places. They demand a minimum monthly wage of Tk 30,000 and other things. Protests, work stoppages and road blockades in Dhaka, Gazipur and Savar stopped traffic in several areas and disrupted factory production. Workers clashed with police in Gazipur, and people vandalised and set fire to police boxes and other places.

The industrial police said at least 300 factories in the Savar Ashulia industrial area and Gazipur declared a holiday during the workers’ movement. Police fear that the banned Awami League has joined the workers’ movement and is trying to make the situation worse. Mr. Mohidul Islam, Joint Commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), said some anti government or anti state circle is joining the protesting workers to worsen law and order.

Meanwhile, the government has formed a six member wage board during the protests. The Minister for Labour and Employment, Mr. Ariful Haque Chowdhury, announced this yesterday at the Secretariat. The government has not yet decided to raise wages. The board will hear different sides, study the facts and recommend a new wage structure.

Earlier on Saturday, the minister met representatives of the garment owners’ bodies BGMEA and BKMEA at the Shram Bhaban in Bijoynagar. After the meeting he said the government would issue the wage board notice on Sunday. He had also held several rounds of talks with worker leaders. The board will include owner and worker representatives, government representatives and neutral members.

The board will look at the current wage of garment workers, the cost of living, commodity prices and the industry’s strength. Then it will recommend a new minimum wage. The government will set the new pay structure based on the board’s recommendation and its later decision. Today the lowest monthly wage of garment workers is Tk 12,500. In 2023, the government raised it from Tk 8,000, and the new wage took effect on 1 December that year.

Below are the reports our correspondents sent from different places.

Gazipur

Our Gazipur district correspondent says the garment workers’ movement for a Tk 30,000 minimum monthly wage turned severe in Gazipur. Protests, blockades and clashes began yesterday, Sunday, from morning. People vandalised and set fire to several places. Miscreants set fire to the jute warehouse of Tropical Knittex Limited in the Chandra Palli Bidyut area of Kaliakair.

Reports also say people vandalised Jamuna Bank and the gates of several factories in the Palli Bidyut area. They vandalised a police box in the Mouchak cutter area, set fire to the Konabari police box and set fire to a police vehicle in front of the Ansar Academy. To control the situation, police used batons, water cannons, tear gas and sound grenades. The blockade stopped traffic on the Dhaka Tangail highway for hours. Life in the area from Chourasta to Chandra came to a halt.

Around 8:30 in the morning, workers of several garment factories joined work, then left their workplaces and sat on the highway. The blockade first began in the Mouchak, Safipur and Chandra Palli Bidyut areas of Kaliakair. Later the movement spread to Ratanpur, Konabari, Kashimpur and nearby industrial areas. Most factories in these areas declared a holiday because of the protest.

Thousands of workers then sat on the highway, and traffic on parts of the Dhaka Tangail highway stopped completely. Long distance buses, goods trucks and other vehicles got stuck. Passengers suffered greatly.

The latest information says a fire broke out in the jute warehouse of Tropical Knittex Limited in the Chandra Palli Bidyut area. At noon, two units of the Kaliakair Fire Service left for the spot after hearing of the fire. But the worker protest and the closed highway caused a long traffic jam, and the two units could not reach the spot at first. Later, under the guard of the BGB, the fire trucks went the wrong way on the highway toward the spot.

Kaliakair Fire Service Station Officer Mr. Tarequl Islam said they sent two units after hearing of the fire in the jute warehouse of Tropical Knittex Limited. He said they could not reach the spot at first because of the closed road and the traffic jam. Later, with the help of the BGB, they arranged to go the wrong way. He said they could not immediately confirm how the fire started.

Fires also broke out at the police box under the Konabari flyover, and people vandalised the police box in front of the Mouchak cutter and set fire to a police vehicle in front of the Ansar Academy. Reports say people also vandalised Jamuna Bank and the gates of several garment factories in the Palli Bidyut area. We could not get reliable information at once about the amount of damage or any dead or injured.

Officer in Charge (OC) of Konabari police station Mr. Iftekhar Hossain said workers blocked the highway. He said they set fire to a police box under the Konabari flyover. Gazipur Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate Mr. Md. Nurul Karim Bhuiyan said five platoons of BGB are deployed to control the situation. He said they will serve for one week. He said that although the highway is still blocked, the administration has taken the steps needed to bring back normal life.

The day before yesterday, Saturday, workers blocked the Dhaka Tangail highway from noon until night near Chandra Palli Bidyut and gate number 3 of the Ansar Academy in Kaliakair. They clashed with police that day. Police fired tear shells and threw sound grenades to control the situation. The industrial police said at least 20 factories declared a holiday because of the blockade. Workers left the road at night but began the blockade again on Sunday morning.

Savar

Our Savar correspondent, Mr. Rauful Rahman Parag, says garment workers held protests in Ashulia and Savar. Their demands include a Tk 30,000 minimum wage, an end to blacklisting and other things. Management declared a holiday at more than 50 factories. Police have been deployed at key points and in front of factories in the industrial area because of fears of worker unrest.

Yesterday morning, production stayed normal at most factories, but workers of five factories stopped work and stayed inside. As the day went on, workers of several factories sat on the road and began to protest. This spread tension in Narsingdapur and nearby industrial areas of Ashulia. Eyewitnesses and industrial police officers said that in the morning workers of Al Muslim Apparels in the Nishchintapur area, a factory of New Age Group and Trouser Line Limited stopped work.

They stayed inside the factories and protested over several demands. Around 10:45, a group of workers from several factories sat on the Abdullahpur Baipail road in front of the Sharmin Group factory in the Narsingdapur area. They shouted slogans for a pay rise and other demands. The industrial police asked the workers to leave the road and stand to one side.

The workers then stayed beside the road and called on the Sharmin Group workers to join them. To keep law and order normal and reassure the workers, Ashulia Industrial Police 1 made announcements by loudspeaker yesterday around 10 in the morning from a police vehicle. They said the police are sincere about the workers’ fair demands. They also said the police stand by the workers and work to ensure peace, order and safety.

The announcement said the industrial police have always stood beside the people in this industrial area to give peace, order and security. It said the industrial police work to help the workers, brothers and sisters, win their fair demands and rights. Police said they deployed extra officers at many places to keep the whole industrial area normal.

Kaliakair

Our Kaliakair (Gazipur) correspondent says Kaliakair looked like a battlefield yesterday, not just a highway. Garment workers blocked the Dhaka Tangail highway in Kaliakair, Gazipur, and held large protests, vandalised property and set fires. Their demand is a minimum monthly pay of Tk 30,000. From morning, clashes and blockades broke out again and again in the Chandra Palli Bidyut, Safipur, Mouchak and Konabari areas of Kaliakair.

The movement caused a severe traffic jam of about 15 kilometres, from the Kaliakair Fire Service area to Mirzapur in Tangail. To control the situation, extra police, highway police and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) deployed together in the area. Eyewitnesses and police say workers of garment factories came onto the road from morning with one demand. They shouted slogans for a “minimum pay of Tk 30,000” and blocked the Dhaka Tangail highway.

At one point, people set fire to the Konabari police box and the police box in front of the Mouchak cutter. They also set fire to the gates of some garment factories. They burned tyres on the road to build a strong blockade, and the smoke turned the whole highway black. The industrial police said at least 20 garment factories in the Chandra and Safipur areas declared a holiday for the day to avoid trouble and protect life and property.

Tongi

Our Tongi (Gazipur) correspondent says the industrial area of Gazipur again boiled with a workers’ movement. Yesterday morning, several thousand garment workers blocked the Dhaka Tangail highway in the Safipur area of Kaliakair and began a protest. Traffic on the highway stopped completely. Long traffic jams on both sides of the road caused great suffering for ordinary passengers and transport workers.

Management declared a holiday at 8 to 10 garment factories nearby for fear that unrest would spread. To control the situation and keep law and order normal, the BGB is deployed in the Chandra, Palli Bidyut, Safipur, Konabari, Mouchak, Naojor and Bhogra bypass areas of Gazipur. Workers took position on the Dhaka Tangail highway in the Safipur area around 8:30 yesterday morning, Sunday.

We learned that workers joined work in various factories in the morning. Later they left several factories and gathered on the highway. At one point, the protest spread and management declared a holiday at 8 to 10 nearby factories. Several thousand workers then sat on the highway and protested for higher wages. The blockade stopped vehicles on the Dhaka Tangail highway, and long distance buses, goods trucks and other vehicles got stuck.