RMG wage protest enters fifth day

Fresh clashes between readymade garment (RMG) workers and police erupted in Gazipur and Savar while tensions persisted in Dhaka's Mirpur on Wednesday as protests for a Tk 30,000 monthly minimum wage entered a fifth day.

The unrest continued as the newly formed minimum wage board scheduled its first meeting for Wednesday, and a worker died after being beaten for filming an earlier protest in Gazipur.

In Gazipur, protests resumed on Wednesday morning despite a decision to reopen all factories, Industrial Police Superintendent Mohammad Amjad Hossain said. Although most factories reopened, several declared holidays, including a Lyric Group unit and Odessa Garments, which employs around 4,000 workers.

After dispersing workers moving towards Joydebpur around 8:30 am, police fired at least 10 sound grenades around 8:45 am when over 100 workers blocked the Chandana Chowrasta–Shibbari road and pelted Basan Police Station with bricks, Belayet Hossain and witnesses said. A female Lyric Group worker said she narrowly escaped three explosions as panic gripped the area.

Around 9:30 am, between 2,000 and 4,000 workers blocked the Dhaka–Mymensingh highway at Signboard in Gacha and hurled brickbats, prompting police to fire tear gas and sound grenades, Amjad Hossain said. He added that Salna, Rajendrapur, Sofipur and Palli Bidyut remained normal while tension persisted in Kashimpur.

Assistant Commissioner Md Arif Hossain said 25 platoons were deployed in Gazipur under 25 executive magistrates from 6:00 am. This included 12 Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) platoons, eight Special Response Battalion platoons and five Ansar platoons. 

GMP Additional Commissioner Md Taherul Haque Chauhan said officers were acting with patience to protect lives and property, while the district administration reported four cases and 36 arrests over recent highway blockades and arson attacks on police vehicles, a police box and a warehouse.

In Savar, police fired several rounds of tear gas in two phases to disperse workers marching from Padma Mor in Hemayetpur and towards Baghbari Mor, before protesters regrouped to block the Dhaka–Aricha highway in Hemayetpur and Fulbaria by burning waste. 

Traffic resumed at 10:30 am after nearly an hour of clashes as police fired tear gas and sound grenades alongside three deployed BGB platoons and executive magistrates, while protesters beat three media workers at Padma Mor.

At 8:35 am in Padma Mor and Hemayetpur, Civil Engineers Woven, Civil Engineers Wash, Shamsh Styling Wear, Rupkatha Apparels, Padma Cans, Babylon Casual Wear, Aboni Knitwear and Jeans Manufacture sent workers home. On the other hand, Maxcom International BD and Pioneer Apparels suspended operations. In Dhaka's Mirpur-11, police were forced to leave after a heated argument with workers gathered outside a factory.

Toufiq Hossain (21), a cutting section worker at Laila Styles Limited from Gobindaganj in Gaibandha who lived in Gazipur's Banglabazar, died at Shin Shin Japan Hospital in Dhaka's Uttara on Tuesday afternoon. 

Fellow workers rescued him after protesters critically beat him for filming a demonstration on his mobile phone in Banglabazar on Sunday, and his family took his body to Gaibandha on Tuesday.

Confirming the death, Gazipur Metropolitan Police (GMP) Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Belayet Hossain said Toufiq was beaten by fellow workers while recording the protest and was not injured during any police operation.

Meanwhile, the six-member minimum wage board formed on Sunday was scheduled to hold its first meeting at 11:00 am on Wednesday to review the Tk 12,500 minimum wage set in 2023, the labour ministry said. 

Chaired by Senior District Judge Sheikh Ashfaqur Rahman, the board includes independent member Dhaka University Professor Mosleh Uddin Ahmed, employer representatives ABM Shamsuddin of BGMEA and Asif Ayub of the Bangladesh Employers' Federation, and worker representatives Babul Akhter and Anwar Hossain.

Sources: The Daily Star, The Business Standard