Garment factory owners have sold out at least 13 units in the 15 months to March, mainly because of labour unrest and energy crunch.
Many other businessmen are in talks with foreign entrepreneurs for sell-outs.
The major garment factories sold out over the time include SQ Crystal Celsius, Shanta Garment, Ajax Sweater and Shahriyar Fabrics.
Frequent labour unrest, a shortfall in output following the acute gas and power crisis and sagging profit have forced them into such sell-outs, the owners pointed out.
“It's labour unrest that prompted me to sell out my stakes in two sweater factories to my British partner,” said Ghulam Faruque, chairman and managing director of SQ Group, a local apparels giant that has eight units.
Faruque, however, declined to disclose the amount for which his stakes were sold out.
The group boss also pointed to the prevailing payment system at sweater factories, which he described as complicated.
The system is, the more pieces they make, the higher is their income, which puts them ahead of the fellow workers at other factories in terms of earnings.
The anomalies in such piece rates have led to labour unrest in many sweater factories, said Faruque.
"I've already stopped expansion plan in sweater division."
Another point has been made by Zinat Ali Mia, former owner of Hollywood Garment Ltd.
"Managing workers is a difficult job in a labour- intensive garment factory."
Tipu Munshi, the owner of Mastered Garment Ltd, said he sold out his stake because he was counting losses.
“I could hardly make any profit from Mastered's operation,” said Munshi, also a lawmaker and former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
Shahriyar Fabric Industries Ltd is the latest factory that joined hands in transferring ownership. Canadian T-shirt giant Gildan Activewear Inc took the acquisition of this Ashulia-based 100 percent export-oriented garment factory for $15 million in March.
“The gas and power crisis, coupled with some personal problems, forced me to sell the factory where 3,000 workers were employed,” said Shahriyar Hossain, the owner of Shahriyar Fabric.
When his attention was drawn to such sell-out of RMG units, Abdus Salam Murshedy, the garment sector trade body's incumbent chief, admitted to the situation. "The investor confidence is everything for running business."
Source: thedailystar.net
