Several hundred readymade garment (RMG) makers expressed their inability to implement Tk 5300 as the minimum wage as recommended by the government-formed Wage Board (WB) for workers and pressed the leaders for initiating negotiation with the government for reviewing the same. They also sought policy support from the government to leave the business with finalisation of the new wage structure for garment workers.
“We have received about 470 factory owners’ letters expressing their inability to implement the proposed wage structure and they have also sought policy support to leave business,” Md Shahidullah Azim, vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) told the FE Tuesday.
Earlier, the BGMEA and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) asked their member factories to inform the associations in writing of their inability, if any, to run business if the new wage structure is implemented.
The associations took the move following a good number of owners’ disagreement to implement the recommended wage structure at an emergency meeting held on November 05.
They also pressed for an exit policy with four months’ time so that they could stop manufacturing in the event of failure to implement the new wage, Mr Azim said, adding: “such support should be included in the Wage Board recommendation so that the factory owners who are not capable to pay can leave their business.”
They would not take any standing bank liability and close down their factories by paying only current month’s wages and no termination benefit, he added.
Replying to a question, he said if the government provided the three supports they sought in a meeting with the labour minister Monday, the owners might implement the recommended wage structure. The supports would help enhance their affordability, he added.
Earlier, BGMEA President Atiqul Islam said they sought the exit policy support from the government during the meeting with the minister.
Mr Azim said they were expecting to get more such applications from many other factory owners and they would send a letter to the labour ministry along with all these applications.
However, Sirajul Islam Rony, who is representing the workers in the Wage Board, said the owners were putting pressure on the government to realise their demands as they realised the same in 2010 when Tk 3,000 was announced as the minimum wage.
“They have no other excuse to reject the Wage Board’s decision. The recent unrests are the only reason they can show for rejection of the recommended wage,” he said.
-With The Financial Express input
