Festival allowance in RMG units
Owners refuse to pay in new wage structure
Apparel factory owners have decided to pay Eid festival allowance to workers in line with the old wage structure amid workers’ demand for festival allowance according to the new wage structure.
The workers are supposed to get paid for November in line with the new wage structure, announced in July.
Leaders of apparel workers at a meeting with the home minister, Sahara Khatun, on Tuesday demanded that they should be paid the festival allowance according to the new wage structure, which has become effective in November.
‘The workers will be paid their wages for October and the festival allowance before Eid-ul-Azha according to the old wage structure,’ the Bangladesh arment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association president, Abdus Salam Murshedy, said.
According to law, Murshedy said workers were entitled their wages and other payments in line with the new wage structure from December.
Murshedy, however requested the factory owners to disburse all due payments before Eid.
The labour minister, Mosharaff Hossain, a week ago told reporters the workers would get paid the Eid festival allowance according to the new wage structure as it has already come into force.
Garment Sramik O Shilpa Rakkha Mancha leader Abul Hossain told New Age they had demanded the festival allowance for apparel workers in keeping with the revised wage structure and had held a meeting with the BGMEA leaders in October.
The labour and manpower minster then said the apparel workers would get the festival allowance in the new wage structure and the wages in the old structure.
‘We support the minister’s commitment and want the festival allowance in the new wage structure,’ Abul Hossain said.
Apparel workers have been out on demonstrations for a few days in different parts of the country demanding festival allowance in keeping with the new wage structure. Workers also vandalised a number of factories in Gazipur.
The BGMEA delegation on Tuesday sought more support from law enforcers in protecting their factories from vandalism.
Talking with reporters, the home minister urged the workers to not to take law into their own hand.
‘Try to resolve issues through discussions,’ said Sahara. ‘The workers will be paid their dues and they will be able to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha. Any problems taking place will be through understanding involving both the sides.’
The state minister for home affairs, Shamsul Hoque Tuku, the Rapid Action Battalion director general and the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner attended the meeting.
Nazma Akter, a leader of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Federation, told New Age that payment of Eid festival allowance according to the previous wage structure would be unfortunate for the workers.
The festival allowance in keeping with the old wage structure will disappoint more than three million apparel workers as the implementation of the new wage structure has been delayed by more than three months, she said.
‘Workers are hoping that at least the festival before Eid would bring them smile,’ she added.
Aklima Akter, another leader of apparel workers, said, ‘The government’s stand on the Eid festival allowance is unclear. The government seems to be favouring the factory owners.’
‘As labour laws do not say anything clear about the festival allowance, owners keep exploiting workers,’ she said.
The immediate past chairman of the Minimum Wage Board, Iktedar Ahmed, told New Age, as he did earlier, the announcement of the minimum wage did not say anything about the festival allowance as it is not mentioned in labour laws.
‘Festival allowance is usually paid in most of the industries. So there should not be any debate over the festival allowance in the apparel industries,’ he said.
‘It will be a good gesture if apparel workers are paid the festival allowance,’ he said.
