Need for physical rest more than overtime payment

Members of two Workers’ Groups (WGs) in Ashulia are working from long time for the same Denim factory in a suburban area near of Dhaka. After Eid vacation, at the beginning of September 2017, they had not received any day off on Friday’s. After 3 working weeks without any rest, all workers asked to their supervisors to have a day off. Supervisors declined stating that there was simply too much work to do as the shipment date was nearing, and also countered the workers’ demands by underlying that workers were receiving over time payment for their work, therefore they should not be asking for days off. The workers persisted advocating for rest, stressing that continuing to work at such rhythms would lead to ill health which put their jobs at risk as the factory owner could very well terminate their contracts due to their being unwell. In this vein they preferred taking much needed rest every week rather than being paid for overtime. The workers announced that if the office did not give them a day off on the coming Friday then they would been all absent that day. Given the firmness of the workers stance, the Office decided to accept their request. In this manner WG’s members banded together to raise their voice to demand for their rights from the factory management.