Grave Concern of Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK)

Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) expresses serious concern on the labour unrests in different places of the country demanding enforcement of the wage scale as declared by the government and also, in the same context, the death of a worker and injury of many others in a clash at Chittagong EPZ.

From the online versions of different news media, it appears that the workers had been in a movement for a long time demanding the implementation of the wage scale declared by the government. As the movement continued, Chittagong EPZ has been declared to be closed for a day. This decision outraged the protesting workers and they devastated different factories and vehicles and also set fire to those. The media sources reported that police released tear gas, charged baton and fired gunshots to control the situation. As a result, a worker died and many others got injured.

In the beginning of August 2010, the Government fixed the minimum wage of the workers to be 3000 taka and declared that it would be effective from November 2010. The workers demanded the minimum wage to be 5000 taka and to be implemented before the Eid festival in early September. It is very frustrating if really the garments industry owners, after such a long period, have not yet implemented it. We urge the government to take immediate and effective steps in this regard.