Reducing the basic wage by Tk 200 from Tk 3200 of the proposed recommendation, the minimum wages board for the garment workers on Thursday made its final recommendation
of Tk 5,300 as minimum monthly wage for entry-level workers.
The board also recommended for five per cent increment of the basic every year at the 10th meeting at the board’s Topkhana Road office.
Despite reducing basic pay, the amount of minimum wage remain unchanged in both the proposed and final recommendations as food subsidy has been increased but the wages in other six grades have been reduced from proposed amount as wages of those grades are supposed to increase proportionately.
‘The board has taken the decision of minimum wage of garment workers at Tk 5,300 unanimously and the final recommendation will now be sent to the labour ministry for gazette notification,’ the board chairman AK Roy said at a briefing after the meeting.
He said that the board on November 4 recommended Tk 5,300 as minimum wage and published a gazette on November 5 asking for objections and opinions, if any, on the recommendations by 14 days.
A total of 477 opinions, proposals and disputes were filed in the board within the deadline and the board members discussed elaborately on those in the meeting and took a unanimous decision on minimum wage, AK Roy said.
Of the Tk 5,300, Tk 3,000 has been given as basic wage, Tk 1,200 as house rent (40 per cent of the basic pay), Tk 250 as medical allowance (10 per cent of the basic pay), Tk 200 as transport allowance and Tk 650 as food subsidy.
Though the minimum wage for the workers remained unchanged in the final recommendations but the wages in six grades have been reduced proportionately by Tk 137- Tk 2,380 in the final recommendation as the basic minimum pay have been reduced.
In the final award, the board suggested gross wage at Tk 5,678 for the workers of grade six, Tk 6,042 for grade five, Tk 6,420 for grade four, Tk 6,805 for grade three, Tk 10,900 for grade two and Tk 13,000 for grade one.
Whereas the board in its draft proposal suggested for Tk 5,815 for the workers of grade six, Tk 6,184 for grade five, Tk 6,677 for grade four, Tk 7,248 for grade three, Tk 12,020 for grade two and Tk 15,300 for grade one.
The workers’ representative to the wage board Sirajul Islam Roni said that a labour unrest took place in the garment sector as the owners had rejected the proposal of Tk 5,300 as minimum wage which had been proposed in the ninth meeting of the board.
‘I hope the workers will resume their production in the factory in a peaceful manner from today as the owners accepted the demand of minimum wage,’ he said.
Terming the final recommendations of wage board as the victory of workers, Sirajul said that it is a great achievement for the workers that the wage board recommended for 5 per cent increment in the basic every year.
After the meeting of the wage board, the owners’ representative Arshad Jamal Dipu said that in the face of labour unrest they have been forced to agree the amount of Tk 5,300 as minimum wage to protect the sector.
‘It would be difficult for the owners but we will try to implement the new wage structure as early as possible,’ he said.
On November 4, the minimum wage at Tk 5,300 was decided through vote among the board members after the representatives of workers and owners failed to reach a consensus after long discussions at the ninth meeting of the wages board.
The owners rejected the decision of the board and said that the recommendation of the board would hurt the apparel industry badly.
On November 13, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association leaders had accepted Tk 5,300 as the minimum wage for a worker after the prime minister’s intervention.
On November 15, as per the demand of owners, the labour ministry announced the basic minimum wage of Tk 3,000 although the minimum wages board recommended Tk 3,200.
In the light of ministry announcement, the minimum wage board on Thursday set the minimum wage at Tk 5,300 with basic pay of Tk 3,000.
The government on June 6 formed the six-member minimum wage board with retired district judge AK Roy as its chairman.
-With New Age input
