Leaders of the Garment’s Sramik Odhikar Andolan, a combine of 12 apparel workers’ rights bodies, on Wednesday handed over a memorandum to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers’ and Exporters’ Association leaders at its office in the city. The memo demanded setting up minimum gross wage of a seamstress at Tk 16,000 a month, with the basic wage at Tk 10,000. They also demanded payment of 50 per cent dearness allowance to the apparel workers until the proposed wage is officially announced. The platform also asked the BGMEA to give the workers 10 per cent yearly increment. Prior to the handing over the memo, the leaders held a rally in front of the BGMEA office, where coordinator of the combine, Mushrefa Mishu, spoke among others. She said more than 45 lakh apparel workers were battling hard to run their families with the current minimum wage of Tk 5,300 a month. Mushrefa Mishu chaired the rally that was addressed, among others, by president of Bangladesh Garment’s Textile Federation, Mahbubur Rahaman Ismail, president of Bangladesh Garment Sramik Sanghati, Taslima Akter, Samannita Garment’s Sramik Federation president Rafiqul Islam Pakhik and Garment Sramik Andolan president, Touhidul Islam.
