Fugitive owners’ assets to be sold to pay workers: Sakhawat

NN Online:

Labour and Employment Adviser Brigadier General (Retd) Dr. M Sakhawat Hussain announced today that the government will clear outstanding wages of workers by liquidating the assets of factory owners who fled the country following the July uprising.

“Several ministers and MPs from the former regime have gone into hiding abroad. The government is working to sell off their properties — including houses, vehicles, and land — to compensate the workers,” said Sakhawat.

He added that steps are underway to issue Interpol red alerts against the absconding factory owners in an effort to bring them back and hold them accountable for unpaid dues.

The adviser made these remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a shadow cabinet session on labour-owner relations organized by Debate for Democracy in observance of May Day 2025, according to a press release.

Emphasizing the need for healthy relations between employers and employees, Sakhawat stated, “A mindset of caring for workers has yet to fully develop among owners. While we stand by the workers, we must also support the owners to foster unity.”

He blamed the politicization of the industrial sector under previous administrations for many of its failures.
“In many cases, factory owners were also political leaders or lawmakers, which enabled them to exploit workers without consequence,” he said.

Sakhawat also noted that the mass participation of workers in the July movement stemmed from years of systemic exploitation.

Referring to the 2013 Rana Plaza tragedy, he criticized the government’s handling of the incident and alleged that the dramatic rescue of a female worker, Reshma, after 17 days under the rubble, was a “staged drama.”

Labour and Employment Secretary A H M Shafiquzzaman attended the event as a special guest, while Debate for Democracy Chairman Hassan Ahamed Chowdhury Kiron presided over the session.