Around 83,000 garment workers still remain unpaid even after the deadline for factory owners to pay last month's wages and salaries expired on Monday.
Most of the workers were supposed to receive their salaries by April 16. But all the factory owners could not pay within the deadline.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association (BGMEA) bargained with the labour ministry and extended the deadline by four days to pay the salaries and wages of the workers.
Yet some workers of the BGMEA's member factories have not got their salaries.
Meanwhile, workers are staging protests by blocking roads in different areas in and around the capital every day demanding wages even at the risk of getting infected by coronavirus.
According to BGMEA, a total of 24,72,417 people are working in the member factories.
Of them, 23,89,500 -- 94.68 percent of the total workforce -- received salaries for March till yesterday.
The organisation has 2,274 member factories; out of the total, 2,056 factories have so far paid their workers, according to BGMEA.
However, the salaries of 82,917 workers in 121 factories are yet to be paid, it added.
Sources in BGMEA said the association is in talks with the rest of the factory owners who assured that they would pay the salaries within two days.
According to the sources, 21 out of 360 factories in Dhaka metropolitan area, 44 out of 808 in Gazipur, 13 out of 471 in Savar-Ashulia area, 9 out of the 269 in Narayanganj, 31 out of 324 in Chattogram, and the remaining three out of 42 factories in other places, failed to pay the wages.
BGMEA President Rubana Huq said, "From the beginning, we have been requesting owners to pay the workers’ salaries for March. Most of the factories paid. The owners of the remaining factories have been contacted. They will pay soon.”
Jatiya Garments Sramik League President Sirajul Islam Roni said, “The owners are bouncing on their promises. It (delay in payment) is not fair as workers live hand to mouth with their petty salaries. It is inhumane that they are working amidst the risk of contracting COVID-19 disease but returning home empty-handed.”
