Workers have walked out of 529 factories across the country's major industrial zones amid severe labour unrest, leaving nearly 987,000 workers absent from work. The disturbances have hit Gazipur, Mymensingh, Savar, and Ashulia the hardest, with additional incidents recorded in Mirpur under the jurisdiction of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
The figures, compiled from data available until 3:30pm on Sunday, encompass 2,134 factories distributed across five primary industrial zones. According to the records, 276 of the affected manufacturing sites are situated in Gazipur and Mymensingh, 185 are located in Savar, Ashulia, and Jirani, and 68 are found within the DMP area in Mirpur.
In contrast, no incidents of worker walkouts or failure to report for duty were documented in Narayanganj or Chittagong. A detailed breakdown indicates that the Gazipur-Mymensingh belt contains 836 registered factories, with 645,360 workers failing to report for their shifts.
Within the Savar-Ashulia and Jirani zone, 185 out of 441 factories were impacted, resulting in 290,205 absent workers. Meanwhile, the DMP jurisdiction encompasses 320 factories, where 68 sites in Mirpur experienced absenteeism involving 51,625 workers.
The broader dataset accounts for 197 operational facilities in Narayanganj and 340 in Chittagong, both of which maintained normal attendance. Overall, the report identifies 1,816 factories as remaining operational across the five zones, while 529 were forced to close due to the ongoing labour agitation.
Why it matters
The widespread labour unrest threatens production schedules and economic stability in Bangladesh's critical garment and manufacturing sectors.