Siddiqur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), has announced that the 59 Ashulia-based garment factories would reopen today after remaining closed for over two weeks following labour unrest. He was speaking at a press conference. 

While announcing the re-opening, Rahman hinted at a written statement where 30 workers' associations requested the association to reopen the factories as soon as possible. The workers at the factories have also been making the same request, he said.

Further he said that it was because of those requests and also a directive from the prime minister that the Association decided to reopen the factories on Monday. It may be recalled that from December 11, the workers of factories started work abstention on December 11 demanding their minimum monthly wage be increased to Taka 16,000 from Taka 5,300.

Later, the factory managements decided to shut down their units fearing a massive labour unrest and spillover of the demonstrations at the neighbouring factories. After the reopening of the factories, the managements will follow the same provision under which the workers might not receive their pays for the days the factories remained closed, Rahman maintained. About the cases filed against the workers, he said those would be handled under the law of the country.

On the workers who have been terminated during the unrest, the BGMEA chief said the respective management of the factory would take a final call in this regard. Even after being pressed, he could not instantly inform of the exact amount of losses the factories incurred due to the closure.