Home ›› 12 Aug 2021 ›› News
In Bangladesh, the woes of private security guards continue to be fanned by meagre wages, job insecurity and long work hours.
Starting in 1988, the industry now consists of nearly 450 registered and unregistered companies, employing over 750,000 professionals.
But the industry’s growth remains hamstrung by the negligence of the government, security guard companies and their service recipients, according to Bangladesh Professional Security Services Providers Association (BPSSPA).
In the early 1990s, the companies employed former military personnel and started institutionalising the commercially-manned guarding services.
They are considered the first line of protection in housing, financial, and office areas.
No job security
Abdul Jalil, a guard of the Dutch Bangla Bank ATM booth at TSC, Dhaka University, has been in this profession for 12 years. His misery started when the Padma River devoured his farmland and house and left him with no choice but to engage him in this profession.
This staff of the Elite Security Force draws only Tk 4,300 and works for eight hours a day. To survive, he has to do overtime leading up to 16 hours round the month.
“I only manage to earn Tk 8,600 now; my salary was never enough to feed my family of seven members and continue the education of my five children. I am now in my sixties and suffer from various illnesses,” Jalil added.
Apart from Jalil, The Business Post listened to many stories of miseries of security guards, who didn’t even want to be named due to their job security. They have the least freedom of expression and their jobs have the least security.
Three guards in front of an educational institution of Old Dhaka, employed by the Bangladesh wing of G4S — a British multinational security services company — claimed that their monthly earning is Tk 5,500 and duty time spans eight hours. With another 8-hour overtime every day, the salary reaches Tk 11,000 altogether.
They claim G4S takes Tk 66,000 from the institution as service charge, and only half of it is paid in salary.
Deployed in front of a globally recognised NGO-cum-financial bank’s ATM booth, the security staff of the Garda Shield Security Services claimed he is paid only Tk 25 for an hour.
“I work for 12 hours and receive only Tk 9,500 per month. I've been in this profession for one and a half years. Now I am trying to convince an IP channel producer to recruit me as a cameraman,” he added.
Another guard in his sixties, deployed by security company Euro Vigil, to guard a prominent banking institution, claimed that he is paid only Tk 186 per 8 hours, which means only Tk 23.25 per hour.
“I have a small tailoring business in Goran, Khilgaon; due to Covid, my business saw no profit for a long time. I had no other choice but to enter this job eight months ago,” he claimed.
“To earn enough, I have to do three shifts — two in Old Dhaka and another in the Gulistan area of the capital with little time to unwind in between two shifts. And I take a quick nap in the early morning to regain strength for the whole toilsome day,” he added.
The same fate befell a 10th grader who used to work as a staff in Sunmoon Tailors near the New Market. Carrying a badge of ‘Greyhound’ security agency, he also works for 12 hours in a row at an ATM booth in Nazimuddin Road.
“I used to earn Tk 14,000 from a tailoring job. I switched the profession to be a guard and here I am getting only Tk 12,000,” he said.
Bleak prospects everywhere
Deprived of basic needs, poorly-trained, ill-nourished and extremely exhausted, most private security guards are not provided with adequate numbers of PPEs, masks, gloves, and other safety equipment. They mostly go unvaccinated and the prospect is similarly bleak everywhere, be it a small security firm or a big business conglomerate’s own security company.
Twenty-four security professionals belonging to business conglomerate Gemcon Group were terminated in the first phase and more than 15 in the second phase. About 15 other security guards were forced to resign for demonstrating in front of the company's head office in Dhanmondi 27 in Dhaka for the Eid-ul-Fitr bonus.
The Business Post tried to reach Kazi Inam Ahmed, one of the directors and shareholders of Gemcon Group, for three consecutive days for his comment. He did not respond to requests for comment.
Asked about the excessive work hours and low wages of security guards, Brig Gen (retd) Sharif Aziz, managing director of Elite Security Services Ltd, said, “Because of meagre salary the guards do inhuman overtime, mostly two shifts totalling 16 hours, sometimes more extra hours to make extra money for survival.”
“Over 90 per cent of companies ask the guards to do extra hours. They have to assure the recruiters of doing overtime, or else they are asked to quit,” he claimed.
“We get small service charges from most of the clients. Can you imagine there are financial institutions, who have been paying as low as Tk 5,500 for the last ten years, and one telecom operator pays only Tk 4,500 as service charge for a whole month's service? And now, under the pretext of the coronavirus pandemic, they are unwilling to increase the charges for years to come. But they make an enormous amount of profit, as we come to know from the media,” Aziz claimed.
Fixing minimum wage
For the first time, the government is taking steps to fix the minimum monthly wage of guards in the ‘security service’ industry at Tk 9,140.
The draft has been passed by the labour ministry and is now awaiting public notification. The Bangladesh Minimum Wages Board (MWB) under the Ministry of Labour and Employment has decided to increase the basic wage by 5 per cent every year and revise the base wage after every five years.
The minimum wage for the guards is being fixed in four categories, starting from apprentice guard.
Farhan Quddus, Managing Director of Securex Limited and Secretary-General of BPSSPA, said, “The pay scale set by the government is still below the human subsistence level for workers living in Dhaka and other metropolitan cities.”
Terming the minimum wage as an illogical decision depending on the preparation and criteria a security guard has to meet, he said, “The government has already introduced a monthly salary of Tk 15,800 for security guards deployed in government institutions, Tk 16,000 for labourers in the shipbreaking industry and Tk 12,500 for a carpenter.”
Raisha Afroz, secretary of the MWB who was involved in drafting the policy, said, “There are some employers who have demanded an increase in the wage, but the majority is considering it pricey. However, the owners can pay more if they want. But if someone pays less, they will have to face trial under the labour law.”
“If we set a minimum wage of Tk 15,000 for security guards, it would be Tk 20,000 after the service providers charge 25 per cent service charge. Then most customers will start hiring personal security guards on small wages. This will harm the growth of this industry,” she added.
About the future of this industry, Farhan said, “I feel that in next five years, the private security service industry will see a major shift from manned guarding services to an integrated security system — a combination of human resources and technology.”
