Dhaka: As many as 21 garment factories remain closed in the industrial area of Ashulia. Of these, general holidays have been declared in 133 factories. Section 13 (1) of Bangladesh Labor Act 2006 has closed 86 factories indefinitely.
Ashulia Shilpa Police-1 Superintendent of Police (SP) Mohammad Sarwar Alam confirmed this information to Barta24.com on Thursday (September 12) afternoon.
The authorities have decided to close the factories considering the unstable situation due to the ongoing protests and vandalism.
Section 13(1) of the Labor Act states that 'on account of an illegal strike in any branch or department of an establishment, the owner may close down the said branch or establishment in whole or in part and in case of such closure the workers participating in the strike shall not receive any wages.
The workers joined the factory on time on Thursday morning. However, in some factories, if the workers stop work due to various demands, a general holiday is declared in those factories. Army, APBN and police personnel have taken positions in front of various factories in the Narsinghpur area. Army, RAB, BGB and policemen are patrolling the road.
Shilpa Police-1 SP Mohammad Sarwar Alam said, since yesterday, we have made the workers join and work peacefully. All parties are talking about how to get out of this situation. There is also talk about how to settle disputes over claims. Discussions are also going on with those who work at the field level of the factory department.
He said, today (Thursday) 86 factories are closed under Section 13 (1) of the Labor Act. General holidays have been declared in 133 factories. In some of the factories that are open, talks are going on about the demands. No unstable situation has been reported anywhere so far.
It should be noted that the total number of closed factories in Ashulia was 70 yesterday. Of these, 45 were indefinite closures under section 13(1) and general holidays in 25 garment factories. #