Workers of AA Yarn Mills Ltd on Thursday blocked the Dhaka鈥揗ymensingh highway at Joina Bazar of the Sreepur upazila in Gazipur, demanding arrears for September.
Police fired several rounds of rubber bullets and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the workers after failing to clear the highway.
The blockade lasted for about two hours from about 12:45pm, causing severe traffic congestion and suffering for commuters.
Inspector Abdul Latif of Gazipur Industrial Police said that the authorities had promised to pay workers鈥� September wages on Thursday after repeatedly postponing the date earlier.
However, when workers learned that the payment was being delayed again, they first staged a sit-in inside the factory and later blocked the highway, he said.
Members of the army, industrial police, highway police and local police attempted to persuade them to leave the road, but the workers refused to do so.
Later, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells and eventually dispersed the workers and traffic returned to normal at about 3:00pm, the inspector said.
The protesting workers said that they earned only Tk聽12,000 a month, which was not enough to cover their house rent, children鈥檚 school fees and other daily expenses, and they had not received their wages yet.
They also alleged that police charged batons during the blockade, leaving several of them injured.
AA Yarn Mills Ltd human resources officer Monir Hossain said the factory could not pay September wages on Thursday as promised.
Workers left after being informed that salaries would be disbursed on Sunday following consultation with higher authorities, he added, noting that Friday and Saturday were declared general holidays.