DHAKA: Hundreds of Bangladeshi garment workers set fire to their factory yesterday to demand a better bonus before the country’s main Muslim festival, police said.
Firefighters battled to control the blaze which gutted the warehouse on the ground floor of the factory at Mouchak, 40 kilometres north of Dhaka.
“The workers angrily protested at the amount of bonus they got from the owners for the upcoming Eid Al Fitr festival,” local police chief Omar Faruq said. “At one stage they walked out of the factory and set the godown (warehouse), which was on the ground floor of the factory, on fire,” Faruq said from the site.
Protests over poor wages and benefits have hit Bangladesh’s garment industry, the country’s economic mainstay, since April, when a factory complex collapsed and killed more than 1,100 people.
The fire, which started at about 2.30 pm at the five-storey Libas Textiles factory, was under control, said a police officer, Sanwar Hossain.
Fearing large-scale protests ahead of Eid Al Fitr, the government has asked factory owners to pay salaries and bonuses early.
According to local media, some factories have told their workers that they might not be able to make payments on time because of shipment delays and non-payment by buyers.
The country is the world’s second largest garment manufacturer.
AFP
