Hundreds of workers from at least five readymade garment (RMG) factories under the TNZ Group blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in Gazipur since Saturday morning over unpaid wages on Saturday.
Following the blockades, hundreds of vehicles had to remain stranded for hours causing severe sufferings to the people, mainly the passengers of different long distance routes.
Witnesses said, the protests were staged by the workers of TNZ Apparels Limited, Basic Clothing Limited, Apparels Plus Eco, Basic Knitwear Ltd, and Apparel Art Limited. Gazipur Industrial Police Inspector Biojid Mia said a section of workers blocked the highway at Basan point around 8:00am.
Later, around 1,200 more workers joined the protesters, who blocked the highway suspending traffic, he said.
The vehicular movement remains suspended when the report was filed around 10:45am.
Local residents and regular highway users expressed frustration over the blockade, saying that frequent road blocks due to such protests cause significant disruption in movements of daily commuters, shipment of goods and services across the area. This protest follows a previous strike on October 29, where TNZ workers also halted production and demanded their overdue wages.
According to police reports, the payment date for salaries was set for October 23, but the company failed to pay. A meeting on October 24 between the army, factory owners, and workers' representatives resulted in a new commitment to pay wages of September and October by November 3 and November 20 respectively. This commitment was also unmet.
Gazipur's Industrial Police earlier said that TNZ Group had issued an urgent notice confirming their agreement to settle outstanding wages. According to this notice, September wages (for labourers, employees, and officials) would be paid by November 7, through designated bKash accounts.
The October's wages were promised for November 28. In light of this, all workers were specifically requested to focus on achieving "maximum production" from November 9 to support timely wage payments.
Today, TNZ Group's chairman issued another urgent notice, expressing regret over the continued delay in paying September's wages. The notice said intentions to resolve the payment of September and October wages as soon as possible.
It explained that factory operations were currently on hold due to lack of electricity, making it impossible to resume production on November 9. The company is working with the relevant authorities to restore power, with plans to restart operations as soon as the power connection is re-established, the notice said.
