"Sacked workers of Bangladesh's Dragon Sweater gave up half their pay. Now employers breach deal", 20 November 2020

The retrenchment was wrapped up as planned by June but the workers were not paid their money. Over the last five months, they have turned to many government agencies and held peaceful protests for backpay without success.

The owner of the company, Mostafa Golam Quddus, a former president of garment exporters’ lobby BGMEA, denies they had dismissed workers.

The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, however, has found evidence of disquiet among the workers of the company over layoffs and overdue payments.

In a meeting with the Department of Labour on Oct 12, Quddus signed an agreement to pay off the workers within two months in four instalments, but the owners raised a fresh issue over the sum of the first instalment on Nov 7 and left the overdues unpaid that day.

In the last meeting on Nov 15, the protesting workers kept Quddus confined to the Department of Labour office for three hours upon his failure to pay their wages...