Banks asked for short-term loans for RMG units
Star Business Report
Had the financial institutions come forward to provide short term loans for smooth running of ready made garment units, the owners would have ensured workers' monthly salary on time, remarked the management of an RMG unit that fell victim to the last month's labour unrest while narrating the situation to the press yesterday at Gazipur."Sometimes banks take longer than scheduled time to receive letters of credit (L/C), which often forces us to delay paying workers' salaries," said M Abu Taher, chairman of Fortuna Apparels Ltd, a concern of Fortuna Group, at a view exchange meeting with journalists on his factory premises. He said, "If banks provide us with short-term loans and take it back when the L/C are received, we can run our factories without any hassle and disruption." When asked about the measures the factory management took after the May 20 violent incident, Taher said they gave Tk 1lakh compensation to the family members of the female worker who was killed as the police fired upon the workers staging demonstration for realising their dues. In the incident, many workers, including cops, were injured. Responding to another query, the factory owner said they are now more cautious about protecting workers' interests and maintaining compliance issues. He said a workers-management misunderstanding led to the untoward incident. Fortuna Apparels is one of the leading woven item exporters. It supplies RMG products to the major buyers of EU and the USA. Recently, it received a $ 12 million export order from Wall Mart, the largest retail chain store of the world, officials of the factory informed the newsmen. On May 12, Fortuna Apparels Ltd celebrated its 24th founding anniversary.
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