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As many as 44 apparel factories would face problems to pay their workers’ wages for the month of April and the festival allowance on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.
According to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association data, out of 1,667 active factories, 44 factories might face problems in paying wages for the month of April and bonus on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.
The association brought 700 factories under close monitoring and visited 554 factories, which might face trouble in paying wages for the month of April and bonus on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.
Of them, 92 per cent or 510 factories would not face problems to pay wages and bonus, the monitoring team found. It also found that only 8 per cent or 44 factories might face a financial crisis to pay wages and bonus, it added.
As of Thursday, 367 or 22 per cent of factories paid wages for the month of April, while 583 or 35 per cent paid the bonus.
“As the sector is going through a financial crisis for the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, we called for a fresh stimulus package to pay workers’ wages for three months and bonus. But the government did not approve it,” Shahidullah Azim, vice-president of BGMEA told the Business Post.
As the government did not provide fresh funds, some of the small factories might face troubles to pay wages and bonus. “We are trying to help them manage it through banks with those they are dealing with,” said Azim.
He also asked the government to direct the Bangladesh Bank to ask the scheduled banks to help the factories, which might face trouble in paying wages and bonus, by providing funds to be adjusted on the maturity of foreign funds to be received from the buyers and brands in return to the shipped goods.
Earlier, the state minister for labour and employment Monnujan Sufian asked the apparel factory owners to pay their workers' salaries and Eid bonus by May 10.
