The RMG wage board has yet again failed to formulate a new wage proposal, as its second meeting ended without any concrete decision on Thursday. However, the board members are optimistic about submitting a fresh wage proposal in their next meeting.
The meeting was held in Dhaka, led by the RMG wage board Chairman Liaquat Ali Mollah.
The first meeting of the RMG wage board ended without any result on May 24. During that meeting, Liaquat asked the representatives of owners and workers to submit a specific proposal in the next meeting.
But both parties failed to submit a proposal on Thursday.
Speaking to The Business Post, Bangladesh National Garments Workers Employees League President Sirajul Islam Rony said, "We will visit some factories as soon as possible, and then finalise a proposal. We expect to submit a proposal in the next meeting."
"Owners will also submit their proposal in the next meeting."
On April 9 this year, the Ministry of Labour and Employment formed a four-member permanent new wage board, headed by Senior District Judge Liaquat Ali Molla, to review RMG workers’ wages.
The other three members are – Bangladesh Employers' Federation representative Moksud Belal Siddiqui, Workers' Representative Jatiya Sramik League Leader Sultan Ahmed, and an independent member Dhaka University Prof Md Kamal Uddin.
Besides, the ministry also announced the names of two members as owners' and workers' representatives respectively – former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association Md Siddiqur Rahman and Bangladesh National Garments Workers Employees League President Sirajul Islam Rony.
As per the Bangladesh Labour Act and Labour rules, the government will have to form a new wage board every five years and it will set a new wage structure.
In December 2018, the government-nominated board declared a new pay structure fixing minimum wages at Tk 8,000 per month.
Since early 2022, RMG workers had been staging demonstrations several times demanding the formation of a new wage board, and Tk 24,000 as the monthly minimum wage, citing skyrocketing inflation in the country.
