Chaldal employees protest at Dhaka headquarters over unpaid salaries

Employees of online grocery platform Chaldal have been protesting at the company headquarters in Dhaka, demanding payment of salaries they say have gone unpaid for three to six months.

Around 75 employees, mostly women, travelled from the Jashore office to Dhaka on Saturday after the company asked them to come to its Banani headquarters for discussions with the chief executive officer.

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The employees said they have yet to receive any concrete assurance on when they will be paid.

More than 30 employees were still staying at Chaldal White House headquarters in Banani on Tuesday night, while others had left after falling ill or finding accommodation elsewhere, according to employees involved in the protest.

“The demand is very simple. Give us our salaries, and we will leave. We don't need anything else,” said Salma Akter Nipu, a Premium Care Associate at Chaldal who has worked at the company for two years.

Salma said she resigned in May after the company failed to pay salaries regularly.

“After clearing our December, January, and February salaries, they haven't provided any salary onward,” she said.

She said she was owed three months of salary, while some other employees were owed as much as six months.

Salma alleged that Chaldal head office provided no information or clear timeline.

Another employee, Shakinur Rahman Shakib, a Technical Operations Executive, said he was owed six months of salary.

Shakib said employees in Jashore were owed between three and six months of salaries and claimed that 300 to 400 employees there had not received their full salaries.

“In Jashore, everyone. At least 300 to 400,” he said.

Many employees who travelled to Dhaka were now facing problems returning to Jashore, Shakib said, as they have run out of money and some have been asked to leave their rented houses.

“Even those who came, they had money to come, but no money to return,” he said.

According to Shakib, an inspector from the Department of Labour Banani-Gulshan zone met the employees and received a written complaint.

The latest protest follows a similar dispute at Chaldal’s Jashore operation in March, when employees demonstrated over unpaid wages. At the time, Chaldal said salary payments were being cleared in phases and attributed the problem to economic factors beyond management control.

The company also said it was working with various stakeholders to resolve the issue.

The employees said they have contacted authorities, including the police and emergency services, seeking help to recover their unpaid salaries.

Contacted, Waseem Alim, CEO of Chaldal, said they are going through an unprecedented liquidity crisis.

“We fully recognise the hardship caused to employees by outstanding salaries. We are continuing to work with employee representatives, the authorities and other stakeholders toward a solution, while making clear that legitimate claims for dues are not in question.”