Workers of at least five apparel factories on Wednesday protested to demand their due wages and express their worries over a lack of safety measures and more at Mouchak, Kunia, Board Bazar and Signboard areas of Gazipur.
At several points, they blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, all pressing for the same demands.
Siddiqur Rahman, superintendent of Gazipur Industrial Police-2, said workers of Bay Footwear, M&W Fashion, Eva Fashion, Bindu Fashion and Green Sweater Factory protested in four areas of Gazipur City Corporation yesterday.
While they were demonstrating and blocking the highway, police were deployed to disperse the protestors, which resulted in the law enforcers firing a few rounds of tear gas shells. At that point, a chase and counter-chase ensued, he added.
Workers of M&W Fashion alleged they had not received their wages for the last three months. Additionally, when their factory reopened recently the management did not even maintain minimum safety measures to prevent workers from being infected with coronavirus.
A notice signed by the general manager (HR) of Eva Fashion, Aftab Uddin Ahmed, stated that some workers had abstained from work on the false pretext of due wages, which led to a suspension of production and forced the factory to shut down on Tuesday in line with labour laws.
This enraged the current batch of workers, who joined the protesting workers yesterday, they said.
Workers of Green Sweater Factory also alleged that they had not been paid for February and March, which forced them to take to the streets.
Sushanta Sarker, Additional SP of Gazipur Industrial Police, said when police tried to pacify the agitated workers, they hurled brickbats at the law enforcers, resulting in a chase and counter-chase.
