Published in The Independent on Tuesday, 30 January 2018
Workers’ demand, owners’ capacity to be considered
RMG WAGE BOARD
Sharif Ahmed
Some key issues, like housing rent, number of family members, and healthcare, were likely to be prioritised in the new wage structure for garment workers, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers’ and Exporters’ Association (BGMEA) president Siddiqur Rahman said.
The government will first publish a gazette notification for the wage board for garment workers and then the wage board will decide on the matter, he told The Independent.
The wage board will submit a report on the salary structure of readymade garments (RMG) workers within six months, he added.
When asked about the things to be included in the wage structure, Rahman said housing rent, number of family members, and healthcare, were likely to be prioritised in the new wage structure.
On January 14, the government formed the wage board and ordered it to recommend a minimum salary scale for the garment workers in six months.
A four-member permanent wage board already exists. Whenever a board is announced afresh, two additional members representing owners and workers are usually included.
The minimum wage was last fixed at Tk 5,300 in 2013, up from Tk 3,000 in 2010. In 2013, the government formed a wage board with four permanent members, to review the wages for RMG workers.
After the Rana Plaza disaster, the wage board fixed
the minimum entry level wage for a garments worker at Tk 5,300 with a basic of Tk 3,000 and a 5 per cent yearly increment.
Last month, RMG workers in Ashulia, an industrial hub on the outskirts of the capital, took to the streets and enforced a strike for a 16-point charter of demands that included a minimum monthly wage of Tk 15,000.
When asked, additional research director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Khondaker Golam Moazzem, told The Independent that competitive pricing, wages in other sectors, production cost, living expenses, export data, and inflation should be considered for preparing a new salary structure for RMG workers. “We need relevant data to scrutinise the salary structure, but it is not available except in the case of inflation and export data,” he added.
To make a perfect wage structure, both owners and workers need to be flexible at the beginning of the negotiation, he observed