The owners have announced the indefinite closure of three factories of the Alif Group in the Konabari Zarun area of Gazipur city. This Thursday morning, workers came to the factory gate and saw a notice in this regard. After that, they started protesting by taking a position in front of the main gate.
The closed factories are Swadhin Garments Limited, Swadhin Dyeing Limited and Swadhin Printing Limited.
Industrial police and workers said that the workers of Swadhin Garments have been demanding Eid bonus, holiday pay and half the current month’s salary for quite some time. But the authorities have not announced any decision on this matter. In this situation, more than 800 workers started a strike from yesterday, Wednesday morning. This morning, the owners declared the factory closed indefinitely and issued a notice.
The notice states, “This is to inform all officers, employees and workers working at Swadhin Garments, Swadhin Dyeing and Swadhin Printing (Pvt.) Limited that in accordance with Section 13/1 of the Bangladesh Labor Act 2006, all activities of the factory have been declared closed for an indefinite period under (No Work No Pay) from Thursday, March 20.” The notice further states, “It is to be noted that from March 17 to March 19, all the workers of the factory have organized and illegally stopped work by going on strike. As a result, the factory has suffered huge financial losses. In such a situation, since it is not possible to properly manage the production activities of the factory, the authorities of Swadhin Garments, Swadhin Dyeing and Swadhin Printing (Pvt.) Limited have been forced to declare all activities closed indefinitely.
Gazipur Metropolitan Konabari Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Nazrul Islam said that the workers have been demanding their dues for some time. But the authorities have declared the factory closed indefinitely without providing any solution. Due to this, the workers are even more angry. They are staying at the main gate and inside the factory.
