Workers of Jalil Textile Mills have demanded payment of all outstanding legal dues before the mill's 54.99 acres of land is transferred for the expansion of the Bangladesh Ordnance Factory (BOF).
In a joint statement issued on Sunday, leaders of the Jalil Textile Mills Workers' Union expressed concern over reports that the government has given policy approval to transfer the land to the Bangladesh Army at a token price for the BOF expansion.
The union leaders said the dues of 1,073 workers, employees and officials remain unpaid, warning that transferring the land before settling those claims would amount to a grave injustice.
An audit by chartered accounting firm Shafique Basak & Co. determined that the net dues owed to the 1,073 workers, employees and officials stood at Tk 205.74 million as of June 30, 2012. A high-level committee formed by the Ministry of Textiles and Jute later upheld the same amount.
The leaders also said all legal disputes over the government's re-acquisition of the mill had been settled by the higher courts, leaving no legal obstacle to paying the workers' dues.
They alleged that the relevant ministries and the Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation (BTMC) have failed to take effective steps to settle the payments.
They claimed that more than 375 workers and employees have died over the years while waiting for their dues, leaving many surviving workers and the families of the deceased in financial hardship.
The union urged the government to immediately clear all outstanding payments and suspend any process to transfer the mill's land or other assets until the dues are fully paid.
The leaders also called for an urgent joint meeting involving the Finance Ministry, Ministry of Textiles and Jute, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Department of Labour, Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, BTMC and workers' representatives to resolve the issue, warning of democratic protest programmes if their demands are not met.
