Several hundred laid-off workers of Opso Saline Pharmaceuticals on Saturday blocked the Barishal-Kuakata-Dhaka highway, demanding reinstatement.
They blocked the highway at Nathullabad crossing in Barishal city for over four hours, starting from 12:00 noon, causing suffering to hundreds of passengers and transport workers.
The police initially tried to stop them from blocking the highway, but in the face of protests, they retreated and took position on one side of the road.
Barishal Kotwali police officer-in-charge Mizanur Rahman said that the blockade caused heavy traffic congestion on the highway that began to ease after the protesters cleared the road at around 4:30pm.
During the programme, Bangladesh Nationalist Party joint convener for Barishal Metropolitan Afroza Khanam Nasrin, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal Barishal district coordinator Manisha Chakraborty and leaders of various labour unions also joined to express solidarity.
The workers said that they had been working at Opso Saline Pharmaceuticals, a company of the Opsonin Group and one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in the country, for a long time.
They said that after initially engaging them on a daily wage of Tk 220, the company recently included them in the master roll, but after just one year they laid off 570 workers without notice.
The dismissed workers alleged that the company was planning to hire 1,200 new workers after laying them off, which they termed 鈥榗lear injustice and a conspiracy against us.鈥�
Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal leader Manisha said, 鈥楢 month before the dismissal, a workers鈥� union was approved at Opso Saline Pharma. That is why they were dismissed.鈥�
She said that the movement would continue until the dismissed workers were reinstated.
On October 29, the company served dismissal letters to 570 workers of the factory鈥檚 Sturipack (syringe and saline set manufacturing) branch.
In protest, all factory workers began a strike from October 30.
Rakib Mia, general secretary of the Opso Saline Workers Union, said that a meeting was held on Wednesday from 3:00pm to 6:00pm under the mediation of the Barishal deputy commissioner.
The company, however, remained firm in its decision for dismissing the workers, citing that the branch 鈥榠s incurring losses,鈥� Rakib Mia added.聽
