Some apparel factory owners are trying to place workers in a lower pay grade to deprive them of the new minimum wage, trade union leaders said.
The Garment Workers’ Trade Union Centre general secretary, KM Ruhul Amin, alleged that Kaniz Fashion at Tejgaon, Padma Poly Cotton at Uttara and Madina Pel Fashion Craft Limited tried to place previously Grade III and IV workers into Grade V but in each case, the owner on Tuesday drew back from implementing the change when workers protested.
He said the attempted regarding by such companies were no exceptions and the practice was becoming quite widespread in the apparel sector.
The owner of Madina Pel Fashion Craft Limited, Abdul Matin Khan, told New Age that there had been a problem over grading but said that he had ‘solved the problem by meeting the workers demand.’
Abul Hossain, a leader of the alliance for the protection of garments workers and industries, told New Age that he had found the same problem in other factories.
‘For example, many of the owners have placed workers who in the earlier wage structure were in Grade III or Grade IV into the lower Grade V and as a result, the workers’ wages have not gone up,’ he said.
Apparel workers have started receiving their November salary this week which should include their new minimum wage increases.
In July, a tripartite wage review commission announced the revised minimum wage structure which, with the consent of the government, was deferred for three months.
Under the structure, more than 35 lakh workers, 80 per cent of whom are women, working in over five thousand factories should receive salary increases as much as 80 per cent.
The wages of entry-level Grade VII apparel workers increased to Tk 3,000, up by 80 per cent from the earlier Tk 1,662. Workers’ representatives had demanded Tk 6,200 in wage for these workers.
Grade VI workers should now get Tk 3,330, up from Tk 1,851; Grade V workers should receive Tk 3,553, up from Tk 2,046; Grade IV workers should be paid Tk 3,861, up from Tk 2,250; Grade III workers should receive Tk 4,218, up from Tk 2,449; Grade II workers should get Tk 7,200, up from Tk 3,840 and Grade I workers should be paid Tk 9,300, up from Tk 5,140.
It is the responsibility of apparel factory owners to implement the new wage structure properly and the government must take steps to implement it and take action against the owners who do not, Abul said.
Amirul Haque Amin, the president of Jatiya Garment Sramik Federation, said they were watching the situation and said that he also had received some allegations of anomalies in implementing the wage structure.
Mahbubur Rahman Ismail, the president of the Bangladesh Textile Garment Workers Federation, said the workers of Narayanganj and Kachpur areas have started getting their salaries under new wage structure.
‘We have also heard that is some factories workers were being deprived of their rightful salary by re-grading them to a lower grade,’ he said.
Mushrefa Mishu, the president of the Garment Sramik Oikya Forum, claimed that the factory owners were depriving the workers at Ashulia and in Gazipur and the apparel sector will face another tougher movement if the anomalies continue.
