Underlining that workers of the Dhaka export processing zone-based Italian garment factory, A-One (BD) Limited, have not received their salaries/allowances for the past year, labour leaders on 24 January (Sunday) called for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s intervention to resolve the issue while calling upon the authorities concerned to initiate necessary steps to ensure that all arrears of the 1,100 employees are cleared.
The demands were made at a protest rally organised in front of Dhaka’s National Press Club, in which the protesting workers and labour leaders also demanded an embargo on A-One (BD) Limited’s owner to prevent him from leaving the country (Bangladesh), reopening the manufacturing unit, granting maternal allowance to eligible female workers and repaying money from the workers’ Provident Fund.
We had gone to the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and other relevant agencies to resolve the issue, but nobody paid any attention to us, stated President of the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF), Amirul Haque Amin, who addressed the rally and underlined until all workers (of A-One (BD) Ltd.) received their outstanding salaries, they would continue the protests.
We are now seeking the Prime Minister’s intervention, said Amirul while, reportedly, warning of waging nationwide protests if demands were ignored.
