Protests for min. wage rock garment belts

A female garment worker identified as Anjuara Khatun was killed on Wednesday in Gazipur garment hub while the area witnessed massive protests and clashes between agitated RMG workers and law enforcers.

Enraged workers, rejecting the RMG wage board's proposal for minimum salary of Tk12,500 (announced on Tuesday), registered protests also on Wednesday that led to a clash with police, leaving the female worker dead and numerous injured.

In the morning, several hundred RMG workers took position on streets in Gazipur, Ashulia and Savar garment belts, demanding Tk23,000 as the minimum salary.

In Konabari, Gazipur, police fired rubber bullets, sound grenades and lobbed teargas shells to disperse the agitators, triggering a clash that left at least ten people injured.

Of them, Anjuara Khatun, 24, wife of Jamal Hossain of Sirajganj district, died on way to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

She worked as a sewing operator at Islam Garments in Gazipur.

Gazipur Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ibrahim Khan confirmed the female garment worker was injured in the clash.

To ensure RMG factories' security, the government deployed a total of 48 Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) platoons at Ashulia, Savar, Mirpur, Gazipur and other RMG hubs of the country apart from deployment of police.

Taslima Akhter, coordinator of Garments Workers' Movement for Raising Wage, a platform of 11 organisations, condemned the attacks on workers, which left three people dead since October 23 and several hundred injured.

She rejected the wages board's minimum salary proposal and demanded Tk 25,000.

"Considering the terrible situation of labour unrest and three workers' losing their lives during the campaign, it's better to negotiate for the minimum wage instead of making police attack the workers," she said.

However, the platform is going to organise a protest in front of the National Press Club in the city on November 10 demanding Tk25,000 minimum wage and justice for the three workers killed in last two weeks in protests.

Bangladesh Garment Workers Trade Union has also declared a protest on the same day demanding review of the wage, announced by the government on Tuesday.

The readymade garment workers have been demonstrating since last month for Tk 23,000-Tk 25000 as monthly minimum salary, and it's turned into clash when the owners proposed Tk10,400 as monthly minimum salary to the wage board.

Agitated workers took position on streets and clash ensued when police forced them to leave.

Since October 23, two factories were set on fire and numerous vandalised, owners were forced to close nearly 500 garment factories, according to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

Finally, on November 7, State Minister for Labour and Employment Monnujan Sufian announced Tk12,500 as new minimum salary for the RMG workers saying, "Our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fixed the figure verbally."

Trade union leaders instantly rejected the proposal terming it as insufficient, and announced to continue protests in support of their demand.

Asked, Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director of private think tank Centre for Policy Dialogue, told the FE that they had recently proposed Tk 17,568 as minimum wage taking into consideration a notable hike in living expenditure.

"We have conducted a research titled 'Refixation of Minimum Wage for RMG Workers: Observations and Recommendations' over garments workers in different hubs," he said.

"We recommended specifying all elements of a wage structure using a percentage-based system by the minimum wage board, instead of a fixed salary," he added.

"Our calculation showed that if garment owners could get an additional 7 cents on average for each unit of RMG product, they could easily implement the CPD-proposed wage structure," he maintained.

Global brands have also assured RMG insiders that they would work to implement the new wage.

Dr Moazzem said the government is considering only inflation while fixing minimum wage which is creating problems.

He added as per the International Labour Organisation, separate 12 indicators should be taken into account before fixation of minimum wage.

"If a worker has to cover two persons' expenses excluding him/her, he/she needs minimum Tk17,568 now as per our survey," he said.

He also said considering the government's own statistics, the minimum salary of Tk 12,500 for the RMG workers is not sufficient.

However, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data showed the country is facing severe inflation since the last two years as inflation advanced 30 basis points to 9.93 per cent while food inflation almost hit 12.56 per cent in October.

Meanwhile, BGMEA President Faruque Hassan through a press release said the organisation on October 31 announced that it will accept the government's proposal for minimum wage though export dropped notably in last nine months.

He said export from Bangladesh to US dropped by one third while for EU it was 13.71 per cent.

He added exports in October 2023 dropped by 14 per cent than that of 20-22, he said.

He said production cost increased by 40 per cent in last five years.

"In spite of all odds, we were ready to implement the government proposed new wage," he said. "Despite the announcement of new wage, we have observed that workers in many factories are still staging demonstration and are not going joining work, which is unfortunate," he added.

"I request all workers to join their work and to refrain from any kind of works which could hamper the image of the industry," he said.

He also said the factories could stop their operation as per the 13/1 provision of the labour law if workers leave workplace or don't come.

Since the beginning of this year, brands, buyers, rights groups and Bangladesh's development partners have been raising voice to ensure a decent salary for the nearly 4 million readymade garment workers to confirm a better life.

They also said that they are willingly to increase products' prices to adjust salary hike.

Bangladesh's single largest export brand H&M recently assured that it is determined to support Bangladesh garment sector to implement new wage.

tonmoy.wardad@gmail.lcom