Al Amin :
The new wage board for workers of the country’s readymade garment is unlikely to be announced before 2023, according to the sector insiders.
The entrepreneurs of the sector said the industry is now passing through a tough time instigated by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
The import orders have been slowing down as risk of economic recession is increasing in the USA and the EU countries, major destinations of the country’s apparel export, since the beginning of the war, they said.
Besides, the sector is yet to be rebounded fully from the shock of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, they added.
The existing wage structure for the RMG workers was announced in December 2018, which will be expired after 2023 as per the structure employers are bound to increase workers’ salaries by 5 per cent every year based on basic wages.
But workers refused to accept the wage structure at the time and announced protests demanding a revision. After eight days of labour unrest in a row starting on January 6 in 2019, the government announced a revised pay structure.
The apparel workers’ call to raise their wages recently got louder as soaring inflation has made it difficult for them to bear daily expenses with the existing salaries.
A BGMEA leader, wishing his anonymity, told The New Nation, “A committee is likely to be formed at the end of the year and then the wage board may be declared next year considering the overall situation of the industry.”
“We are now working to introduce the Employment Injury Scheme and Rationing Card for the workers,” he said.
Fazle Ehsan Shamim, Vice President of the BKMEA, said, “It will take more two to three months more time to form the board as no discussion is yet to be started in this regard.”
“But we want to form the wage board for our workers as they are heart of the industry,” he said.
The minimum wage for the garment workers was last hiked to Tk 8,000 in December of 2018. The minimum wage was fixed at Tk 5,300 in 2013, up from Tk 3,000 in 2010. It was Tk 1,662.50 in 2006, Tk 940 in 1994 and Tk 627 in 1985.
Speaking at a protest programme on Friday, the leaders of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Trade Union Centre (GWTUC) demanded immediate formation of a wage board and announcement of a minimum basic wage of Tk 20,000 for the garment workers.
At the same time, introduction of at least 50 per cent allowance, full bonus and all arrears must be paid before Eid-ul-Azha, they demanded.
Speaking at a press conference recently, former Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan said the government will form a new wage board for the garment sector in response to the apparel workers’ continued unrest in the previous four consecutive days.
The government will provide the workers with ration cards soon, with which they will be able to buy some basic commodities at lower prices, he added.
However, Shajahan Khan did not say in details when and how the wage board will be formed and how the ration cards will be given to the workers.
He only said, he will inform the government’s plan of giving ration cards to the workers and new wage structure for them.
