Babar sees good reasons for unrest, wants workers demands met
Staff Correspondent
State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar yesterday said there were good reasons behind the recent unrest in the garment sector and urged the owners to meet the demands of the workers as per the tripartite deal. "During my visit to the affected factories, I found some definite reasons for the unrest behind the workers' logical demand. So, you (garment owners) have to meet their demands as much as possible immediately," Babar said at a seminar organised by Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGMEA). The tripartite contract recognising due rights of the garment workers was signed on June 12, 2006 among the government, the owners and the workers of garment factories in an effort to pacify the labour unrest that had hit the industry hard. The home minister, addressing the seminar, urged the factory owners to develop relationship with the workers to prevent any further unpleasant incident. "I know most of the garment factory owners have not maintained much communications with the workers for a long time. As a result, the mid-level management have taken advantage of the absence of owners and engaged themselves in various unethical activities against the workers." Babar said most of the garment factories do not comply with the fire safety standards, which is very unfortunate. "BGMEA should strengthen its activities to ensure the minimum compliance in the garment sector". The garment factory owners fear further unrest following the announcement of minimum wages and urged the minister to take measures to tackle any kind of untoward incident in the garment sector. SM Fazlul Haque, BGMEA president, said "We will implement the directions of the wage board when it is announced, but we are worried about further unrest after the announcement". "There is a possibility of another unrest in the sector if the wage is not satisfactory to all the workers," echoed Annisul Haq, director of BGMEA, who is also a member of the wage board. BGMEA handed over two police vans to the home minister for providing security to garment factories. Babar assured the garment factory owners that the government would take adequate measures and different intelligence agencies are working on this issue. "We have added industrial police in the organogram of the police, which will come into being shortly". However, he advised garment leaders to develop BGMEA's own intelligence wing to inform the law enforcement agencies of any further unrest. Anwarul Iqbal, inspector general of police and M A Aziz Sarkar, director general of Rapid Action Battalion also spoke at the meeting.
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