12 factories shut amid workers‍‍` strike in Gazipur

At least 12 garment factories in Gazipur have been declared closed after workers resumed their protests for a Tk 23,000 minimum monthly wage.

Sarwar Alam, Superintendent of Gazipur Industrial Police, said that the authorities kept 12 factories closed in Kashimpur, Konabari, and Naojor on a "no work, no pay" basis.

Meanwhile, around 700-800 people gathered in front of Danish and Ima factory in Kashimpur Ward 5 of Surabari around 9:30 am.

According to witnesses and workers, police fired tear gas shells to disperse the protesters.

AKM Ashraf Uddin, officer-in-charge of Basan Police Station in Gazipur, told the media that, like previous days, workers began protesting in the Kashimpur area of Naojor, demanding a raise in wage.

Police reached the spot and brought the protest under control, the OC said.

On Tuesday, the garment workers‍‍` wage board set the minimum wage at Tk 12,500, a little more than half of what workers were demanding.

Union leaders have rejected the new minimum wage proposed by the wage board, which accepted the proposal of factory owners‍‍` representative Siddiqur Rahman.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) urged yesterday the workers to return to work and announced that the new wage structure would take effect from December 1.