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The government has moved to review the minimum monthly wages for the country's readymade garment (RMG) workers, officials said.
In this connection, the Department of Labour (DoL) under the Ministry of Labour and Employment has sought names of representatives from the employers' trade-bodies - BGMEA and BKMEA - to represent in the wage board to re-fix the monthly minimum wages.
On January 25 and 26, it wrote separate letters in this regard to the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) respectively.
In 2018, the government last reviewed the wages of about four million garment workers and fixed the entry-level minimum wages at Tk 8,000 from Tk 5,300.
When asked, BKMEA Vice President Fazlee Shamim Ehsan and BGMEA Vice President Shahidullah Azim said they would send names of their respective representatives within a couple of days.
Talking to the FE, Bangladesh National Garment Workers Employees League President Sirajul Islam Rony said the DoL asked him to provide some documents in this connection.
Sources said the DoL asked for the same from some other labour leaders, as there are more than 50 workers' federations.
"It is the demand of time to review the wages, taking into consideration inflation and daily essentials' prices, which are skyrocketing," Mr Rony said.
There is legal obligation also to review minimum monthly wages of industrial sectors after each five years.
He also suggested factory owners to effectively negotiate with buyers while taking work orders.
When asked, labour leader Babul Akhter said they want representation from the IndustriAll Bangladesh Council (IBC) in the wage board to negotiate minimum monthly wages, claiming the IBC has representation of 90 per cent RMG workers.
He demanded Tk 23,000 as minimum wages with 65 per cent basic payment.
In recent months, labour organisations demanded Tk 20,000 to Tk 25,000 as minimum monthly wages for entry-level workers.
On January 20, the Bangladesh Garments Workers Unity Council (BGWUC), from a human-chain, demanded immediate formation of the wage board and Tk 22,000 as minimum monthly wage for the sector workers, taking high inflation into consideration.
The BGWUC leaders also demanded 65 per cent hike in the basic pay for 7th grade, the lowest grade in the garment workers' wage structure.
They added that the government announced minimum wages for the RMG workers four times since 2006, but unfortunately the basic wage decreased every time in the name of increasing allowances.
RMG is the largest foreign currency earning sector that fetched US$42.61 billion in the last fiscal year, which is about 82 per cent of the country's total $52.08 billion export earning.