The labour leaders and rights activists on Friday said that no government so far set a national scale for minimum wages in the country and that they would wage a combined movement to realise that demand, immediately. Bangladesh Shrama Institute organised a discussion on ‘Problems of National Minimum Wages Fixation and Implementation’ held in the city. Rights activist and economist Anu Muhammad said after waging repeated movements for minimum wage for the apparel workers, the government had set minimum wages for them, but most other industries do not have any such wages. ‘Without any movement, the government or the owners never heed on the workers’ demands, so we need a combined movement for a national minimum wage scale,’ he said.‘A majority of the workers are still employed in the informal sectorsof the country, where they hardly get any wages,’ he added. Anu Muhammad said the minimum wage must be an amount that can keep the workers above the poverty line. ‘An employed person never should stay below the poverty line.’ Convener of Nagarik Sanghati and also Bangladesh Trade Union Federation general secretary, Junayed Saki, said the owners never pay fair wages to their workers. Saki said, ‘The factory owners never pay wage as against a worker’s performance, it is a meager amount which can provide a worker a minimum strength to work for the next day.’ Bangladesh Shrama Institute board of trustee president also Bangladesh Trade Union Federation president, Shah Atiul Islam, presided over the discussion.Former chairman of National Wages Board, Md. Ektedar Ahmed, Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal central committee member Rajekuzzaman Ratan, Garment Worker’s Solidarity coordinator Taslima Akter, Bangladesh Noujan Sramik Federation general secretary, Chowdhury Ashikul Alam Patal, among others, also spoke.
