Around 3,000 workers of three factories blocked the Mawna-Fulbaria road demanding payment of salary and annual (earned) leave in the new scale announced by the government.
Their road blockade program created long traffic jams on both sides of the road.
The workers of Crown Exclusive Wire Limited, Crown Wool Wire Limited and Crown Mills Limited factories in the Kewa Paschim Khanda area of Sreepur Municipality staged the protest blocking the road from 9:30am.
The protesting workers of three factories said that the authorities have not paid their dues even though they were supposed to pay the salaries in the new scale announced by the government in January.
Even though the workers spoke to the factory authorities about these issues, they did not pay attention.
The workers also claimed that without paying the annual (earned) leave money, the authorities forcefully took signatures on the salary sheet. Workers expressed their resentment on various issues including holidays and overtime.
Hearing the news of the road blockade, Mawna Union Parishad Chairman Jahangir Alam Khokon went to the spot and assured the protesting workers to resolve the problem after discussing it with the factory authorities.
Getting his assurance, they lifted the blockade from the road.
Later, the factory authorities announced a holiday for Thursday around 12 noon.
Earlier, garment workers of several factories in Gazipur on Wednesday observed work abstention in their factories to express dissatisfaction over the new pay scale.
They complained saying most of their wages did not increase much in the new pay scale.
Workers said that experienced workers have not been included in Grade 1 or Grade 2; they have rather been listed as workers of Grade 3 and 4. This has been done so that owners can deprive them of higher pay, one worker said, maintaining anonymity.
Workers in multiple factories reportedly observed work abstention, as a result of which production in these factories was halted.
The government on November 12 last year published the gazette on the minimum wage for garment workers, setting the monthly pay at Tk12,500 and reducing the number of grades to five from seven.
In the gazette, the number of grades of garment workers has been brought down to five from seven as demanded by the representatives of both workers and owners before the board formed on April 9.
The new wage came into effect from December 1 and workers have started to receive salaries under the new structure from this January.
