Business

Kaya Group lays off 739 garment workers at four Gazipur factories

The four units in Konabari have been under lay-off since June over banking troubles and unpaid gas bills; the company says dues will be paid under labour law.

ScrollBeat DeskPublished: 20 Oct 2026, 14:30Updated: 20 Oct 2026, 14:36

A garment factory complex in Bangladesh. File photo. Fahad Faisal / Wikimedia Commons

Kaya Group has laid off 739 workers and employees at four of its factories in Gazipur, the second round of retrenchment at the units, after months of lay-off caused by banking problems and a cut in gas supply.

A notice signed by the group's chairman and managing director was posted at the main gate of the factories in the Jarun area of Konabari at about 10:30pm on Monday, Bangla Tribune reported. The layoffs took effect on Tuesday.

The four units are the Knit Composite Division, Spinning Division, Cotton Division and Keya Yarn Mills Limited.

The notice said the factories had been on lay-off since 6 June because of banking complications and unpaid gas bills, and that the period had been extended several times. It blamed the latest cuts on those problems and on having more workers than needed, and said some posts had been abolished to reduce production and administrative costs.

The company said the layoffs were being carried out under Section 20 of the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 and that affected staff would receive their legal dues. Human Resources Manager Sabina Yasmin told reporters that payments would be made as the law requires.

Gazipur Industrial Police Superintendent Mohammad Amjad Hossain confirmed the figure of 739 and said police had been deployed at the factory gates to keep order. Workers gathered outside in the morning to look for their names on the list posted overnight.

Yasmin Begum, a sewing operator who said she had worked at the factory for 18 years, told The Daily Star Bangla that she did not know how she would support her family after losing the job. Abeda Begum, a cleaner at the plant for about 19 years, wept at the gate, saying she was leaving with nothing after so long.

Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman, organising secretary of the National Garment Workers Federation, condemned the decision to dismiss 739 people in one notice after five rounds of lay-off and demanded their arrears and compensation.

The four factories had already laid off 627 workers in the first round on 8 September. Kaya Group, which also makes soap and cosmetics, has faced prolonged financial pressure, and its textile units have been hit by unpaid gas bills and disrupted production.

Sources & further reading

Spotted an error? Read our corrections policy

Keep reading

NEXT STORY World

Princeton PhD graduate applies to 2,300 jobs and still cannot find work

Jack Weis, 30, finished a chemical engineering PhD in 2024. Two years and more than 2,300 applications later, he still has no permanent job, The Wall Street Journal reported.

ScrollBeat Desk20 Oct 2026, 15:27Open this article

Nassau Hall on the Princeton University campus in New Jersey. Jack Weis completed a PhD in chemical engineering at the university in 2024. Daderot, CC0 / Wikimedia Commons

Jack Weis has a doctorate in chemical engineering from Princeton University, a summa cum laude degree from Rice University and research that the Nobel committee cited when it awarded the 2024 physics prize. He has also been out of permanent work for two years, after applying to more than 2,300 jobs.

Weis, 30, finished his PhD in 2024 and returned to his parents' home in Salt Lake City, Utah. He began with science roles at pharmaceutical companies and postdoctoral fellowships at national laboratories, then widened his search to software engineering and other fields, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported his case.

He was turned down even for food preparation work at a company that sells frozen crab cakes. Calls to alumni from Princeton and Rice mostly produced advice to keep checking company job boards.

In January he found part-time work training an artificial intelligence system for $70 an hour, but the hours were irregular and eventually dried up. In mid-March he was told in a group chat that the contract had ended.

His parents, both doctors, said they were shocked. His mother, Holly Carvers, went through his applications looking for mistakes and found nothing obvious, and his father, John Weis, said he never imagined his son would struggle to find work.

Economists describe the US labour market as low-hiring and low-firing: companies are reluctant to recruit and existing staff are reluctant to move, leaving few openings for people trying to enter. Employers are also using AI tools to screen large numbers of applications, adding another filter for candidates.

Weis is preparing for law school admission tests in November and working on a plan to use AI-guided drones to remove invasive weeds. He said people who believe something has real value have to step forward and make that value real themselves.

NEXT STORY Politics

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman stops bus to greet Saidpur college students

On his way from Saidpur airport to Durga Puja pavilions in Rangpur, the prime minister halted in front of Saidpur Government Science College, posed for selfies and handed out footballs and cricket bats.

ScrollBeat Desk20 Oct 2026, 15:27Open this article

File photo: Prime Minister Tarique Rahman meets pupils during a visit to BIAM Laboratory School in New Eskaton, Dhaka, on 25 April 2026. Press Information Department, Government of Bangladesh

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman stopped his bus outside a government college in Saidpur on Tuesday morning to take selfies with students and give them sports equipment, as he travelled to Durga Puja pavilions in Rangpur.

The prime minister landed at Saidpur airport in Nilphamari at 9:50am on a military aircraft from Tejgaon in Dhaka and then set off by road for Rangpur. Students of Saidpur Government Science College were gathered in front of the campus as the bus passed.

Seeing them, he stopped and spent several minutes with the students, posing for photographs and handing over footballs, cricket bats and other gear, the college principal, Abul Kalam Azad, said.

Azad said the students were delighted by the unannounced visit. He said he used the moment to ask the prime minister for help with the college's facilities, including two student hostels and a hall, and that a written request was handed over.

The stop opened a day-long tour of puja venues across three divisions. After visiting the Radha Gobinda temple in Rangpur, the prime minister was due to fly to Rajshahi to tour a mandap and address a rally, then visit a pavilion at the JM Sen Hall in Chattogram before returning to Dhaka at night.

He has spent much of Durga Puja visiting temples and mandaps. At Dhakeshwari National Temple in Dhaka on Monday, he said every citizen has equal rights and that the state belongs to people of all faiths.