The labour ministry has launched a hotline for workers to use and notify the government about their workplace grievances, in a bid to tame the unrest in the country’s key industrial areas.

The workers can use the “16357” hotline free-of-cost, the ministry said in a statement issued Thursday.

Workers from garment and pharmaceutical factories have been protesting for weeks in Dhaka’s Ashulia and Savar as well as in Gazipur demanding fair wages and payment of dues.

Many stakeholders, including labour movement leaders, have alleged that Awami League-backed people added fuel to the unrest.