1,500 factories have not paid festival bonuses as of Friday

Around 1,500 factories within various industrial zones have yet to provide festival bonuses to their workers and employees as of Friday, according to Industrial Police. 

Moreover, around 1,000 factories have not yet disbursed March salaries.

A senior official from the Industrial Police, speaking anonymously, told TBS, “There are 9,500 factories under the jurisdiction of the Industrial Police. As of Friday evening, around 90% of these factories have disbursed their salaries, while the remaining 10% could not even clear salaries for March.”

In addition, approximately 85% of the factories have disbursed festival bonuses, meaning around 1500 factories have been unable to disburse, he said.

The official, however, declined to provide details regarding which type of factory is lagging in salary and bonus payments.

However, factories outside the jurisdiction of the Industrial Police, within the area overseen by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), are not included in this calculation. Taking into account data from factories in that region would result in a higher number of factories that have not distributed salary and bonus payments.

Meanwhile, workers from a garment factory called Denim Processing Unit in Cumilla blocked the Dhaka-Chattogram highway for at least an hour on Friday, demanding their salaries and bonuses. Aside from this incident, no major labour unrest was reported in other areas.

A majority of factories, over 3,000, located in the country’s industrial zones belong to the garment sector. RMG sector entrepreneurs reported that 99% of their factories had paid salaries and bonuses by Friday.

Mohammad Hatem, executive president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), told TBS, “Around 99% of BGMEA and BKMEA member factories have paid salaries and bonuses. Some 30 remaining factories will make their payments on Saturday.”

He also mentioned that there is no dissatisfaction among workers in this sector regarding their salaries and bonuses.

Saturday is the last working day for many factories before Eid. 

However, BKMEA Vice President Fazlee Shamim Ehsan told TBS, “By last Thursday, half of the factories had already given workers leave after paying their salaries and bonuses.”