Labour unrest spells disaster for economy

Initially overshadowed by the ongoing political confrontation, the labour unrest over fixation of the minimum wage for garment workers spread fast in the garment belt of the capital, Savar, Ashulia and Gazipur on Tuesday. In fact, pent-up emotions have started running amok among garment workers ever since the owners' representative offered Tk 10,400 as the minimum monthly wage against Tk 20,393 demanded by the workers' representative at the fourth meeting of the wage board. The situation is looking increasingly ominous now because more than 150 garment factories have announced a general holiday till today. Owners of more factories have threatened to follow suit if workers' agitation grows increasingly violent. The death of two workers – one from bullet wounds and the other found dead inside a factory that was put on fire – in Gazipur on Sunday has added fuel to the fire. On Tuesday, RMG workers in Mirpur smashed 15 cars, two markets, a bank branch and even attacked a hospital following a tripartite clash involving workers, local ruling party followers and the police. In a similar incident in Gazipur, 13 cars, four motor cycles and a showroom of an electric and electronic company were set on fire. Attacks were also carried on a RMG factory and a hospital giving an ample demonstration of further deterioration of management-labour relations. The Mirpur clash left about 50 people injured, 10-15 of them in serious condition.

Now the escalation of the workers' violent demonstration in addition to the countrywide political confrontation in which five people lost their lives in the first two days could not come at a worse time. Amid the increasing poor performances on almost all economic fronts of the country, the readymade garment (RMG) has still held quite a modest prospect against overwhelming odds. Work orders from the buyers of traditional markets slowed significantly only to gain some grounds in this peak period of production ahead of the next summer season. So decline in orders from proven markets could be offset somewhat by rising exports to some fresh destinations.      

If the chaotic situation arising out of workers' unrest in the RMG sector is not immediately brought under control, the country's economy already in a bad shape will go into a tailspin soon. The wage board for RMG workers was constituted on April 9 last and in the past seven months, when these poorly paid employees had to struggle with the country's highest inflation ever, it could not announce a minimum wage for them. One version from the owners' associations claims there is about a month's time before an agreed minimum wage can be worked out. This smacks of insensitivity to the desperate situation the workers find themselves in.

What is frustrating is the failure to make reasonable progress in negotiations by this time. Both parties – the owners and workers – need to recognise the ground reality in order to make the maximum possible concessions to their offers and demands. The wage board and the representatives of the owners could do better by taking the workers into confidence. They know that there is no alternative to finding a middle ground – maybe, not to each side's full satisfaction but workable enough in the context of the current global economic slowdown – for survival of the RMG workers and the factories.