The Daily Star
January 02, 2005
PLIGHT OF RETRENCHED GARMENT WORKERS
Sabrina Karim Murshed
Reena Begum could not hold in her tears. "Nothing could be worse than
what I had to do. I was compelled to withdraw my children from
school," she said.
Living with their grandmother at Khagrachhari, Reena's children were
studying in school with the money Reena sent from Dhaka. But now she
cannot send money because the garment factory, which employed her, is
laid off.
The factory on Green Road was shut down recently without any notice.
Even the factory owner did not pay salaries of the workers, mostly
women.
"Now the future of my children is totally dark, because I cannot send
a single paisa for them," said Reena, one of many retrenched garment
workers.
Minu Akter, a worker of Fayenaz Garments, faced similar experience.
On the pay day in last July, the workers came to collect their wages
only to find the factory closed.
Minu alleged the factory management did not pay three months' wages
to the workers. "Had they told us before, we would have looked for
jobs elsewhere," she said.
Now Minu's landlord is threatening to evict her, as she could not pay the rent.
Not only Reena and Minu, a large number of garment workers have been
rendered jobless at the closure of garment factories in recent months.
According to National Garment Workers' Federation, Bangladesh has now
around 3,600 garment factories, 2,000 of them are situated in Dhaka
and its adjacent areas.
Around 200 factories has been closed in the city recently, said
Aminul Haque, president of the federation. He could not say why these
factories were closed.
As the post-MFA (Multi-Fibre Arrangement) era has just begun in the
New Year, many garment workers fear for their job despite optimistic
views of experts.
Aminul does not agree with the experts who believe the readymade
garment industry in Bangladesh would not be affected much in the
post-MFA era.
"It depends on how the government handles the situation. The
situation can be managed if the business in European market is
ensured," he said.
"But of course there will be some adverse effects and some workers
would definitely become jobless," the labour leader said.
The workers expressed their anxiety over the possible closure of more
factories. Some of them believe big factories will survive but the
small ones will not.
The retrenched workers of some of the laid off garment factories in
the city have meantime sought legal help to get their outstanding
wages.
Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust extended legal assistance to the
workers of 10 factories to file case in the labour court.
"We know we won't get our jobs back, but at least they (factory
owners) should pay the wages we earned," said Ayesha Khatun, another
worker.
[Photo]
Garment workers form a human chain carrying red flags in protest of
the closure of small garment factories, demanding government
intervention to ensure employment to those affected. PHOTO: Syed
Zakir Hossain
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