Tk 3,000 recommended as minimum wage for RMG workers
Garment owners oppose wage board suggestion

Jasim Uddin Haroon

The Minimum Wages Board has recommended Tk 3,000 as salary for an entry level garment worker despite opposition from factory owners.

The garment owners wanted the government to fix the minimum wages at Tk 2,560 a month. The entry level workers constitute around 20 per cent of the sector's around three million workers.

The government will announce the minimum wages for the workers today (Thursday).

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and its fellow members were holding an urgent meeting until filing this report at 8:00 pm on Wednesday to discuss the matter.

The Minimum Wages Board had fixed Tk 1662.50 or US$25 as minimum wages in June in 2006.

Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, representing BGMEA in the Minimum Wages Board, has not signed the recommendation paper, saying most of the readymade garment units will not sustain after implementation of the new wage structure.

Annisul Huq, who represented the Board in 2006, did not also endorse the recommendation. All other members of the board did sign the recommendation paper.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment will announce minimum wages along with seven more scales for the garment workers.

Professor Iqbal Ahmed, an independent member of the board, told the FE: "We wanted to fix wages considering inflationary pressures and calorie requirement. This wages will reflect our thoughts.."

Shamsun Nahar Bhuiyan, workers representative at the board, told the FE they have recommended wages just for subsistence of the workers.

"We had proposed Tk 6,200 initially, but later cut the amount considering the world situation and productivity of our labour forces," she added.

The board, formed in April to review the wages for the garment sector, has also recommended Tk 2,500 for the apprentice workers against Tk 1,200 fixed in 2006.

"This is a large hike as Tk 1,200 is very insufficient and inhuman," said a member of the board.

The Board also refused to agree to the garment owners' demand of extending the period of apprenticeship to one year from the existing three months.

"We cannot extend the apprentice period as the labour law does not permit it," said a member of the board.

The grade one workers employed as chief cutting master/chief pattern master will receive Tk 9,300 under the new pay packages against Tk 5,140 set in 2006.

Habibur Rahman Seraj, a permanent representative of the Board, told the FE: "We have wanted to ensure justice for the workers."

Different organisations advocating rights of the garment workers in a separate statement Wednesday reiterated their demand of fixing the minimum wages at Tk 5,000.

Touhidur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Garments Workers Federation, said they would express their opinion after the Board makes formal announcement on wages.

The new wage structure will not cover the workers employed at sweater factories as they work on daily basis, said Nasrin Akhtar, another workers' leader.

The country's garments industry fetched around $12 billion in 2009-10, accounting for nearly 80 per cent of Bangladesh's total exports.