Savar: A clash between garment workers and police Sunday injured at least 50 people, including police, at Jamgarai in Ashulia area—a repeat of perennial troubles in the ill-managed export industry.   

Sources said the rioting erupted at around 9:00am when thousands of workers of Envoy, a readymade garment factory owned by Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Abdus Salam Murshedy, took position on the Bypile-Abdullahpur road for demonstrations for a pay hike.

Industrial workers in the country’s biggest export sector have long demanded Tk 5,000 as their minimum wage scale—and the unmet demand erupts into unrest frequently in different belt of the apparel industry.

“The workers also vandalized some of the factories, including their own, Envoy,” said Monwar Hossain, assistant police commissioner of Savar.

Sirajul Islam, officer-in-charge of Ashulia Police Station, said on information, police rushed to the spot and lobbed tear shells to disperse the protesters.

The clash left 50 people injured, including 10 police personnel.

Today’s trouble was a sequel to Saturday’s unrest that erupted when the workers found the factories locked by the management.

One of the troubled factories’ Director, Major (retd) Zahid Hossain, said, “The workers damaged three cars, building glasses and valuables of my factory.”

The BGMEA president dismissed the demand as fully illogical. “We are paying the minimum wages that the government has fixed. But, if they demand more, it would depend on the government’s decision,” he said.

BDST: 1705 pm, 13 June 2010
JR/MRH/MMA/MUA