Pay salary, Eid bonus by May 10
Garment workers will have to be paid salaries and festival allowances by May 10 to ensure that they can enjoy the Eid-ul-Fitr festival with near and dear ones, said Monnujan Sufian, state minister for labour and employment, yesterday.
The minister shared the decision at a news briefing after a tripartite meeting of union leaders, government high-ups and factory owners at Srama Bhaban in Dhaka.
Sufian also instructed factory owners to stagger holidays zone-wise in order that there was no crisis of transportation and employees can travel to their village homes maintaining social distancing.
Your choice comes amid health specialists warning that any major relaxation of ongoing restrictions on movement may aggravate the transmission of the coronavirus, especially at the moment when India's health system has divided as a result of spread of a fresh variant of the virus.
At the briefing, the state minister also said if all the workers were permitted to continue leave for holidays at once, it might be difficult to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Citing previous instances, she said it had been observed that whenever the over 5 million professional workers were permitted to go on holiday all at once, it became problematic for them to avail transportation.
Many workers experienced extreme difficulties likely to their village homes, she said.
There are some industry-dense zones such as Dhaka, Gazipur, Narayanganj and Narsingdi.
Some 60 % of the country's garment factories are found in Dhaka, Gazipur, Savar, Ashulia, Maona and Tongi zones. The rest of the 40 % are in Narayanganj, Narsingdi and Chattogram.
Sirajul Islam Rony, a union leader and former person in the minimum wage board for garment workers, said like previous years, some factories might face difficulties in paying staff in the final days prior to the Eid vacation.
"We usually do not want to see such a situation ever again in the garment sector," Rony told The Daily Star over the telephone.
"So we have been monitoring different factories and informing the owners about timely payment to avoid any kind of labour unrest before Eid," said Rony, who was simply also present at the tripartite meeting.
He, however, said all three parties in the meeting agreed on the zone-wise holiday plan.
Almost each year before Eid, some garment factories, especially those which are not members of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), face difficulties in ensuring payments.
As a result, staff draw out rallies and stage demonstrations demanding timely payments.
A lot more than 1,000 micro and small garment factories, most not properly compliant and not members of the BGMEA and BKMEA, face such sorts of trouble.
Up to now, some 250 garment factories have already been recognized by the BGMEA as being susceptible to facing difficulties in ensuring the payments.
"We've already asked them to get ready to complete making timely payments in order to avoid any sort of workers' unrest prior to the Eid festival," said BGMEA Vice-President SM Mannan Kochi.
"We've been monitoring the factories in order that the workers are paid promptly. The BGMEA members will need to pay the employees timely as they are working even in this time around of Covid-19," he said.
Kochi also said the factory owners would start allowing holidays in various zones from May 11 and 12.
Although the staff will be allowed to continue holidays from May 11, they would have to go back to their workplaces based on the government's holiday notice, he said.
The Eid is scheduled to be held either on May 13 or 14 as it is determined by the sighting of the brand new moon.
Kochi also said they have demanded that the government arrange vaccines for the workers.
The government can enter into arrangements with clinics in several industrial zones to supply vaccines to personnel at their convenience.
This week the BGMEA has recently demanded that the federal government give a stimulus package enabling payment of workers' salaries and allowances for April, May and June.
Every month garment personnel are paid a lot more than Tk 3,000 crore in salaries, said the BGMEA.
Last year, the federal government provided Tk 10,500 crore under a stimulus package for export-oriented sectors, especially to those of the garment sector, for paying such salaries and allowances.
The factory owners were allowed to defer the repayment of the loans beneath the package because of the fallouts of the Covid-19.
The neighborhood garment exporters have faced either work order cancellations or suspensions worth $3.18 billion last year as a result of the Covid-19.
However, 90 % of such work orders were reinstated by the international retailers and brands after strong negotiation with the federal government, factory owners and other agencies. Uncertainty still persists over timely payment.
