Labour and employment adviser M Sakhawat Hossain said that the government would impose a travel ban on factory units if they can鈥檛 pay wages and festival allowances to the workers by March 27.
He also said that the manufacturers won鈥檛 be able to go abroad without paying the workers鈥� wages and festival allowances during the mentioned deadline, and all legal measures would be taken against them.
He spoke to the media at a press conference in the secretariat on Tuesday regarding the contemporary labour sector status.
He mentioned that they, along with the home ministry, had taken steps against the 12 factories assumed unable to pay the workers before the deadline. 鈥楾he factories must pay the workers, even by selling their properties, cars, or whatever鈥� he said.
He also said that some factory owners lead lavish lives and go abroad to celebrate Eid but cannot pay their workers.
鈥業 urge the workers to speak up if they have logical demand. However, if anyone raises unreasonable demands, then we will take action against them too,鈥� he added.
He also urged the workers to demonstrate in front of manufacturers鈥� houses or banks, liable to release the incentive money.
鈥楾here is no result by blocking the ministry as we don鈥檛 owe the money to you,鈥� he added.
He also said that the government provided Tk聽2,250 crore to the factories as export incentives, and the owners are bound to pay the workers now.
鈥業f anyone go abroad without paying, they should inform that they cannot run their factories. We will manage the money by selling them,鈥� he added.
The authorities identified some factories which do not pay workers properly. The factories show lame excuse that they have no money to pay the workers before Eid. He added that the government would take action against them.
Responding to a question about factories in risk of payment failure, he said that there were 12 risky factories so far and among them, 5 were highly risky.
鈥楬owever, these factories have been struggling for the past 2-3 years. They are now trying to pressure the government to take advantage. Why should we pay for them?鈥� He added that many of these factories were shut 3-4 years ago.
Responding to a question, labour secretary AHM Shafiquzzaman said that they screened 250 risky factories and connected them with the central bank.
鈥榃e provide the highest amount of incentive this year for all the factories.
However, there are 5-6 factories who had been suffering from various problems for at least 5 years. On the other hand, some workers of several factories took to the street demanding Eid bonuses but they were recruited 2-3 months ago, which is against the Labour Act,鈥� he added.
Regarding Beximco鈥簊 latest update, the Labour Adviser said that, as per the decision of the 8th meeting of the Advisory Council Committee on March 24, the management cleared wages worth Tk聽295 crore to workers and Tk聽162 crore to employees.
Only 214 workers and 207 employees have yet to receive their wages, which are worth Tk聽60.82 crore. He added that more than Tk聽5 crore is expected to be surplus among the Tk聽525.46 crore disbursed.
He also said that about 99.99 per cent of RMG factories under the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association have cleared the wages for February.
He added that all the RMG factories must pay the full or half wages for March before starting the Eid holidays.
Meanwhile, according to the BGMEA, about 90.18 per cent of RMG factories cleared payment of festival allowances ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. Of them, 1,618 factories are in the Dhaka zone and 282 in the Chattogram zone, totaling 1900.
Moreover, 2,083 factories, or 98.86 per cent of the total operational RMG factories under the BGMEA, cleared the February wage.
So far, 199 factories have cleared the full or half wages of March. The Eid holidays in the RMG sector will start on March 26, said the BGMEA.
Under BKMEA, 99.08 per cent of factories cleared February wages, 53.19 per cent March wages, and 75.87 percent cleared festival allowances, said the BKMEA sources.
