No proposals at RMG wage board’s first meeting

The first meeting of the newly formed wage board for garment workers in Bangladesh yesterday ended without any proposal for structuring the monthly payments of more than four million apparel workers.

Held at the office of the Minimum Wages Board in Dhaka, the first meeting was spent discussing different global and domestic issues after introductions were made.

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"We discussed the overall situation of the industrial sector and previous salary structure for workers," Liaquet Ali Molla, chairman of the Minimum Wages Board, told journalists after the meeting.

Both sides, meaning owners and workers, will propose a salary structure for the garment industry during the next meeting.

However, a date for the next meeting has not been fixed yet, he said.

Sirajul Islam Rony, the workers' representative on the board, said he will analyse the current and previous data on wages, cost of living for workers and the present situation of the garment industry before preparing a proposal.

Md Siddiqur Rahman, the owners' representative, said they mainly discussed three issues at the first meeting, namely the global economic situation, overall apparel sector and living standard of garment workers.

Rahman then said he too will propose new salaries at the next meeting and that announcing the final wage structure on time is possible.

The board has seven months to announce the new wage structure, he added.

The government had formed the new wage board for garment workers last month as they have been passing through a difficult time due to high inflationary pressure.

With the announcement of the new wage board, union leaders in the garment sector demanded Tk 23,000 as the minimum wage for workers.

Union leaders proposed the amount considering the needs of a four-member family alongside other major factors such as the inflationary pressure and overall cost of living, including house rent, medical allowance and transport cost.

The current minimum wage of a garment workers is Tk 8,000 per month. Union leaders also said international retailers and brands should contribute a fair share for the wage upgradation of workers.