Two Pacific factories in Chittagong suddenly closed, 20 injured in clash between two groups of workers
Two factories of the Pacific Jeans Group in the Chittagong EPZ have been closed down due to the workers' demands not being met. This has left at least a thousand workers unemployed. There have even been allegations of attacks on the protesting workers by 'hired goons' who pretended to be workers.
At least 20 people were injured in the clash between the two sides of the workers in the incident. Some of the injured have been treated at the BEPZA Hospital in the CEPZ area. Law enforcement agencies have surrounded the two factories of Pacific.
The clash between the two sides of the workers took place in the city's EPZ since Monday (February 10) morning.
The protesting workers said the attack was pre-planned. They said hired goons, disguised as workers, suddenly emerged from inside the factory and attacked the workers who were stationed at the gate at 7 am.
Earlier, on the night of February 9, a notice was suddenly hung on the gate to close the factory of Unit-1 and Unit-2 for an indefinite period. The notice, signed by the senior manager of the human resources and administration department of the factory, said that this decision has been taken in accordance with Section 12(1) of the EPZ Labor Act 2019. The workers have illegally stopped production and raised unreasonable demands, which are disrupting the normal functioning of the factory. Due to this, the two units will be closed for an indefinite period from Monday, February 10.
It is learned that due to the stubborn stance of the owner, there was extreme dissatisfaction among the workers for a month. In this incident, the owner took some workers to their side by giving them additional benefits. But 90 percent of the factory workers were deprived.
An official of Pacific Casuals Limited, who requested anonymity, said that for the past month, workers have been expressing dissatisfaction over breakfast and other amenities. However, he claimed that this dissatisfaction has nothing to do with wages or allowances.
He said that the management had earlier accepted several demands of the workers. But on Sunday morning, the workers started protesting again, which eventually created a tense situation. As the situation deteriorated, the factory was closed around 2 pm. If this continues, the authorities will be forced to close all the factories. At least 6-7 thousand workers work in these two units alone.
Regarding the incident, Chittagong Industrial Police ASP Jasim Uddin said, "On Monday morning, workers from the closed factory came and tried to evict workers from other factories under the same ownership. This led to a clash between the two sides. The workers from the other factory said that their factory was not declared closed, so why would they stop working? This led to a chase and counter-chase between the two sides. Later, we went to the spot and brought the situation under control. The situation is currently normal."
Syed Mohammad Tahmir, owner of Pacific Casuals Limited, did not receive multiple calls on his mobile phone to inquire about the allegations of attacks on workers by outsiders.
Abdus Sobhan, executive director of CEPZ, said, "I have heard about the incident, but I do not know the details yet. It is true that an unexpected incident occurred after the announcement of the closure of the factory. Details will be announced later."
NZN Fashion started its journey in Chittagong in 1984 with a small factory with only 200 workers. Ten years later, it started its journey in a new form called Pacific Jeans in the Chittagong EPZ. At that time, the number of workers increased to 1,500. But now 32,000 people work directly at Pacific Jeans. They have six factories in the Chittagong EPZ alone. There is another knitwear factory outside the EPZ. Their two new factories will start production soon. Pacific Jeans is also building a five-star hotel in Agrabad in the city.
