Garment workers’ wage
The New Nation, Bangladesh
THE Minimum Wages Board at its 25th meeting on September 12 decided to fix the minimum wage for workers in the readymade garment sector at Taka 1604 per month and urged owners of garment factories to implement the same. The owners of factories termed the minimum wage high and said it was difficult for them to implement. Workers found the decision unacceptable and that mainly on the ground of failure of the Wage Board to assess the needs of the workers and earnings of owners of garment factories.
Workers in different factories continued their agitation against factory owners and even opted for strike. The safety of the machinery of some factories was threatened as a result. The law enforcing agencies intervened to contain violence of agitating workers. Production turned uncertain at different factories. The owners of garment factories thus faced the problem of uncertainty in respect of production and shipment of finished items on time to their foreign buyers.
In such a context, the Minimum Wages Board has had its 26th meeting. It noted the objections numbering 425 but could not review those. Representatives of factory owners and workers including the Bangladesh Trade Union Centre could not come to a decision on the minimum wage for garment workers. The garment manufacturing sector, one may note, has retained the export market share despite the end of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) era. Foreign exchange earnings from the sector has turned stable. The fixation of minimum wage for the garment workers is important for meeting demands of workers, more so for unhindered production of quality RMG.
Garment factory owners may also take some initiatives to reduce the expenses that their workers have to incur by living in rented but insecure slum houses. If dormitories are opened at walking distances of factories, the workers can also save transport expenses. Through such measures owners may consolidate the confidence of their workers for unhindered production and steady development of the sector.
© Copyright 2003 by The New Nation
