RMG factories shut for minister’s rally

NEARLY 400 garment factories had to close down abruptly on Saturday because of a RMG workers rally called by a federation of trade unions in the garment sector. And the minister of shipping happens to be the president of the said union.There was little rationale for the meeting where the demand for appropriate pay structure for the garment workers was reiterated. It was a wasteful exercise when there is a wage board working at the moment to finalise exactly this issue. We feel the government should work out the arithmetic of profit and loss caused by the suspension, again under duress, in so many production units. Evidently the minister used his position as leader of transport workers’ union to provide transports to carry the RMG workers to the meeting venue.We cannot empathise more with the demand of the garment workers for pay hike keeping the inflation and cost of daily necessities. But we cannot condone the violence these workers indulged in on their way to the meeting. Why were eight factories vandalised and why were highways and roads blocked by the rally-bound workers?
We are constrained to repeat our concern at the shipping minister’s embarking on the role of a trade union leader. There is clearly a conflict of interest and misuse of his position as a minister, a position he has exploited to extract undue advantages from the government. He should either be a union leader or a minister. He cannot have the cake and eat it too.