The government has recently increased the minimum wages for the sawmill workers to Tk 6,850 from Tk 4,120 as monthly payment. Labour leaders of the sector, however, have rejected the minimum wages for the workers awarded on September 25 by the minimum wages board.
They alleged that the board had set the wages as per the recommendation of the owners’ representatives to the board and did not consider the proposals made by the representative of sector workers.
The minimum wages board on May 3 unveiled a draft of the wages for the sawmills worker setting the basic pay of an expert worker at Tk 7,500, employee at Tk 6,000 and apprentice at Tk 4,500.
‘After the draft was unveiled, we opposed the wage structure and demanded monthly basic pay of an expert worker for grade I at Tk 15,000, an expert worker for grade II at Tk 12,000, semi-skilled workers for grade III at Tk 9,000 and helper working in grade IV at Tk 7,000,’ Ali Akbor, the representative of the sector workers to the wage board told New Age.
He said that despite giving repeated proposal to the wage board the board did not consider the workers’ demand.
At one point the board took final decision and sent the proposals to the labour ministry though the workers’ representative did not sign the final proposals suggesting wages for non-expert grade IV workers at Tk 6,850 as monthly pay (Tk 4,500 as basic, 30 per cent of the basic as house rent, Tk 500 as medical allowance and Tk 500 as conveyance allowance).
The government on September 25 issued a gazette notification on the minimum wages for the sawmill workers.
Fazlul Haque Montu, the permanent workers’ representative to the wage board, however, told New Age that the mill owners and workers had set the minimum wages unanimously.
The setting of minimum wages in the sector was difficult as the sawmill sector is yet to become a formal sector in Bangladesh and there is no strong trade union, he said.
According to the gazette notification there are four grades of workers and employees in the wage structure.
The wages board set Tk 4,500 as monthly gross pay for the apprentice workers and employees and the apprentice period will be three months for the workers and six months for the employees.
The expert workers working in grade I would get Tk 11,985 as monthly pay (Tk 8,450 basic, 30 per cent of the basic or Tk 2,535 as house rent, medical allowance Tk 500 and conveyance allowance Tk 500). On a daily basis the payment would be Tk 460.
Expert workers in grade II will get Tk 9,450 as monthly pay (Tk 6,500 as basic, 30 per cent of the basic as house rent, Tk 500 as medical allowance, and Tk 500 as conveyance allowance) while the semi-expert workers in grade III will get Tk 8,020 as monthly pay with Tk 5,400 as basic pay.
On daily basis payment for the workers working in grade II and III would be Tk 360 and Tk 300 respectively.
Mohammed Selim, general secretary of Dhaka Sawmills Workers Union, said that the announced wages were decided unilaterally.
‘We have rejected the wages and demanded to consider the workers’ proposals,’ he said.
Selim alleged that there was a provision of festival allowances in the previous wages board awarded in 2008 but newly awarded wages board deprived workers from the benefits.
-With New Age input
