Labour minister cancels UAE visit amid garment workers' protests

Labour and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury has cancelled his visit to the United Arab Emirates amid garment workers' protests demanding higher wages.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has called several ministers to his office on Sunday evening to discuss measures to address the labour unrest.

A source at the Cabinet Division said the prime minister had called six to seven ministers and advisers to discuss the current situation. The finance, home affairs and labour ministers, along with advisers from several other ministries, including Mahdi Amin, are expected to attend the meeting, which may take place after Maghrib prayers.

Sources at the Cabinet Division and the Ministry of Labour confirmed that Ariful Haque Chowdhury met the prime minister around 1:00 PM.

Earlier, at around 11:30 AM, the government formed a wage board to review garment workers' wages.

According to sources, the prime minister had issued instructions to address the labour unrest two days earlier. However, the Ministry of Labour took time to obtain the name of the nominee for the workers' representative, delaying the formation of the wage board.

Announcing the formation of the board at the Secretariat, the labour minister told reporters that he hoped it would meet soon and make progress towards resolving the issue.

"The workers' demand was for a wage board. The wage board has been formed today. I hope they will now leave the streets and return to their factories," he said.

He said labour leaders had previously met with the government and urged workers to remain in their factories, assuring them that the wage board would be formed on Sunday. However, some factories declared holidays unnecessarily, telling workers that the board had not yet been announced, he added.

The minister alleged that several political organisations were deliberately trying to create instability.

Asked whether the labour unrest was being orchestrated with December in mind, he said he believed this was the case. He also claimed that an organising secretary of a banned student organisation had joined the protests disguised as a worker, adding that photographs of the individual had circulated on social media.

Meanwhile, the wage board chairman has been instructed to begin the process of determining the minimum wage for garment workers in consultation with employer and worker representatives, as well as independent members.

However, no date has been set for the board's first meeting, and no deadline has been announced for declaring the new wage structure.

Repeated attempts to contact board chairman Sheikh Ashfaqur Rahman by phone for comment went unanswered. He later sent a text message asking to be contacted again.

sks