Although garment workers have been demanding a minimum monthly wage of Tk30,000, the proposal submitted by their representative to the Minimum Wage Board is higher. Meanwhile, the employers’ representative has been asked to submit a wage proposal within the next four working days.
At a meeting of the Minimum Wage Board in Dhaka on Monday, workers’ representative Babul Akhter proposed a minimum monthly wage of Tk32,000 and a maximum of Tk48,000.
The workers’ proposal provides for four grades, with Grade 4 workers receiving the lowest wage and Grade 1 workers the highest. It proposes monthly wages of Tk43,000 for Grade 2 workers and Tk38,000 for Grade 3 workers.
The proposal sets the basic wage at 60 per cent of the total wage, with allowances amounting to 50 per cent of the basic wage. Workers would also receive other allowances.
For trainee workers, the proposal recommends a monthly wage of Tk30,000, including a basic wage of Tk18,000.
In December 2023, the Minimum Wage Board set the minimum wage for garment workers at Tk12,500. Three years later, as the formation of a new wage board approached, garment workers launched protests at the end of October. The demonstrations intensified towards the end of the month.
The government formed the Minimum Wage Board on 1 November. However, protests continued in industrial areas in Mirpur, Savar, Ashulia, Gazipur and Narayanganj. The government claimed that political elements were instigating the demonstrations.
Workers returned to their jobs after the board assured them at its first meeting, held on the fourth day after its formation, that the new wages would take effect from December.
No financial proposals were discussed at the first meeting. At the second meeting, the workers’ side also submitted separate wage proposals for employees in the garment industry, seeking a maximum monthly wage of Tk55,000 and a minimum of Tk40,000.
Speaking to journalists, workers’ representative Babul Akhter said, “Considering the country’s ongoing inflation and workers’ standard of living, we have submitted this proposal to the board on their behalf. Further discussions will now take place at the board.”
Board Chairman and District and Sessions Judge Syed Azad said the employers’ side had been expected to submit its proposal but did not do so at the meeting.
“The employers’ side informed us that they could not visit their factories because of the ongoing unrest in garment factories. They requested seven working days, but the board unanimously granted them four working days,” he said.
The chairman further said, “We do not want to sit here and merely hold discussions. We also want to speak to the workers. For this reason, it was decided at the meeting that board members would visit areas with a high concentration of factories and listen to the workers.”
ABM Shamsuddin, director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the employers’ representative on the board, said they would submit their proposal within the stipulated timeframe.
Also present at the meeting were Asif Ayub, joint secretary-general of the Bangladesh Employers’ Federation, representing the employers; Anwar Hossain, president of the Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, representing the workers; and, as an independent member, Mosleh Uddin Ahmed, a professor in the Department of Public Administration at Dhaka University.
