The representatives of the owners and workers from Bangladesh’s readymade garment (RMG) sector are going to submit specific wage structure proposals at the third meeting of the minimum wage board for RMG workers scheduled to be held on Sunday.
After failing to find any solutions at the second meeting held last month, the wage board members visited five readymade garment factories in the country to learn minimum wage related demands from factory owners and workers.
The board is now planning to fix a final new wages structure by this month (October).
As per sources, Sirajul Islam Rony, the labour representative at the minimum wage board, will demand a minimum monthly wage of Tk 20,000 for the RMG workers at today’s meeting.
He is likely to seek some other facilities such as provident fund, service benefit, increasing maternity leave from four months to six months, auto promotion after every two years and at least 65 per cent basic from gross salary, which is now 51 per cent.
On the other hand, the wage board’s owner representative is planning to propose a minimum wage of Tk 12,000 per month.
Commenting on the issue, Raisha Afroz, secretary to Minimum Wages Board told The Business Post that the third meeting of the RMG workers’ minimum wage board will held on October 1.
“We asked representatives of owners and workers to place their wages structure proposals at the meeting, while we also will present our observations what we found during the recent factory visits,” she added.
On April 9 this year, the Ministry of Labour and Employment had formed a four-member permanent new wage board, headed by Senior District Judge Liaquat Ali Molla, to review RMG workers’ wages.
The also comprises employers’ representative member Moksud Belal Siddiqui, workers’ representative member Sultan Ahmed, and independent member Professor Md Kamal Uddin.
Besides, Md Siddiqur Rahman, former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), and Sirajul Islam Rony, president of Bangladesh National Garments Workers Employees League are non-permanent member of the wage board.
Held on May 24, the first meeting of the RMG wage board ended without any outcome.
During that meeting, Liaquat had asked the representatives of owners and workers to submit a specific proposal in the second meeting that held on August 10. But they also failed to place any proposal in the second meeting.
In view of that situation, board decided to visit RMG factories and talk to workers to learn their opinion.
As per the decision, the board members visited Epyllion and Utah Group’s factory in Gazipur, Pioneer Denim in Habiganj, and Uni Garment and Chittagong Asian Apparels in Chattogram.
Insiders said that during the visits, workers demanded Tk 14,000–Tk 18,000 as minimum wage for a month considering the ongoing severe high inflation. Besides, they also demanded to increase basic rate and maternity leave tenure.
Owner representative Sirajul Islam Rony said, “I will place my proposal as per the worker demand. I will ask the board how much money is needed for a family to survive in a month, and I believed it’s not less Tk 18,000–Tk 20,000.”
Owner’s representative of the board and former BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman, however, denied making any comments regarding the issue.
“We will make our comments after the meeting,” he said.
A BGMEA leader, however, seeking anonymity said, “The wage should not higher than Tk 12,000 per month considering ongoing business situation.”
