Around 50,000 workers at seven state-run jute mills in Khulna and Jessore have abstained from work this week because they have not been paid for nearly two months.
These government-run jute mills are in gross violation of laws safeguarding the payment of wages.
Jute mills and other state-owned enterprises which make losses and are consequently forced to violate workers’ rights to timely payment, should be privatised or closed.
There is no justification for keeping state jute mills open if they cannot even support their normal wage bill. It is completely unacceptable that these mills and other perennially loss-making state-owned enterprises continue to incur large losses requiring tax-payer subsidies.
The case of Adamjee, once the world’s largest jute mill, which was closed down in 2002, shows the folly of continuing to prop up loss-making state-owned jute mills.
Since being converted into an EPZ in 2006, the lands at Adamjee have gone from strength to strength as plots have been developed by a range of export-oriented, foreign, or joint-venture companies.
In the decade since, 40,000 jobs have been created in the Adamjee EPZ, which is 14,000 more than the formal payroll on the books when Adamjee Jute Mills was closed.
Karnaphuli EPZ in Chittagong, which has a similar history, created 55,000 jobs in the same period.
The opportunity costs of not making better use of state-owned land and resources are huge.
Not only are workers kept unsecured in poorly managed loss-making enterprises, but the country misses out on the chance to create more productive higher-value jobs through leasing out or selling the land to private investors.
The government should privatise loss-making state enterprises so their land can be better utilised to attract investment and grow the economy.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
