26 September 2020

More than 700 Bangladeshi garment workers from the A-One BD garment factory in the Dhaka Export Processing Zone staged a two-day sit-down demonstration on Monday and Tuesday outside the National Press Club. They were demanding reopening of the factory, which closed in April, and distribution of eight months of unpaid arrears.

On Tuesday workers marched and held a rally and then submitted a memorandum to the prime minister’s office. They suspended the demonstration after the state minister for labour affairs and the Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA) offered a worthless promise that workers’ issues would be addressed within 25 days.

BEPZA authorities previously claimed that the workers’ arrears would be paid within three months of the factory being sold. The factory previously employed 1,100 workers. The Bangladesh Garment Workers' Solidarity organised the demonstration.