Al Amin :
Country’s apparel industry owners want to suspend workers’ salary increment for the next two years as they are passing through a hard time due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Considering the economic and business situation, we just want to stop annual increment of the workers for the next two years. We have already discussed the issue with Labour Minister,” Mohammad Hatem, Vice-President of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), told The New Nation on Saturday over phone.
As per the labour law, the factory owners are obliged to increase five per cent of the salaries of the workers yearly.
Babul Akter, President of the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF), however, said that the owners of RMG factories stage dramas when time comes to increase salaries of the workers.
When asked, he said, “We neither complained to the foreign buyers nor trying to create unrest in the factories. We are just telling about our rights as per the international labour code of conducts.”
He also said they are not involved with any negative campaign with the foreign buyers for the sake of the country’s interest.
