At least seven readymade garment units at Zirani in Gazipur shut down on Sunday amid workers’ protest for annual increment.
Witnesses said that the workers of Irish Fashion Ltd started demonstration in the morning, demanding 9 per cent annual increment for all the workers notwithstanding their service duration.
According to the government’s latest announcement, only the workers who have at least one year of service duration at a company are qualified for the increment.
When the factory authority did not heed on their demand, the workers occupied the nearby stretch of the Dhaka-Tangail Highway, calling on the workers from other nearby factories to join with them in the protest.
Gazpir Industrial Police superintendent AKM Zahirul Islam said that when workers from nearby factories joined the protest the managements of all these factories shut their units for the day to avoid untoward incidents.
He said that so far, 7–8 factories shut their units during the protest.
Local people and workers, however, said that more than 12 units were shut amid unrest.
The police said that Irish Fashion Ltd had some 4,000 workers.