Dhaka: The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), on Monday, said all their member factories have paid out festival bonuses and salaries for the month of July to their workers.

Many member factories have also paid advance salary of 10-15 working days to the workers, said BGMEA Vice President Moinuddin Ahmed, reports the UNB.

Speaking at a press conference on the labour situation in the export-oriented RMG industry ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, he said, ‘As far as we know, about 100 percent RMG factory owners have paid festival bonuses on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha while 100 percent factory owners have paid wages for the month of July 2018.’

The vice president said, ‘As of Sunday, almost 90 percent factories declared holidays for the festival season and the rest will do it on Monday.’

He further said, according to the information of different agencies and BGMEA crisis management cell, a total of 700 factories were closely monitored by BGMEA ahead of the occasion to avoid any trouble regarding paying salaries.

‘BGMEA ensured salaries for the workers of about 21 problematic factories through direct intervention’, he said adding, ‘In cooperation with the federation, owners, and workers, we have taken steps so that the owners can get funds from the bank and pay the workers in time.’

Claiming that there was no legal obligation to provide Eid holidays and advance salary of August month to the workers, Moinuddin said, this time some factories faced problems due to extrajudicial issues.

Another BGMEA Vice President SM Mannan (Kochi) and BGMEA Director Munir Hossain were also present in the briefing among others.