The minimum wage board for the readymade garment workers in its first meeting on Monday decided that representatives of both factory owners and workers would submit separate proposals of minimum wages to the board before the next meeting to be held on April 25.‘As per the instruction of the government, we have held the first meeting of the board and we have decided that representative of both RMG factory owners and workers will submit separate wage proposals to the board before the second meeting so that we can start discussion on the wage in the next meeting,’ Minimum Wage Board chairman Syed Aminul Islam told reporters following the first meeting at the board’s Topkhana Road office in the city.He said that at the first meeting they discussed the provisions of Bangladesh Labour Act and Labour Rules-related to the workers’ wages. ‘It was the introductory meeting and we have also discussed the prospects and challenges of the readymade garment sector in Bangladesh,’ the wage board chairman said.Replying to a question regarding demands of several labour rights groups, he said, ‘We are taking synopses from the memorandums submitted by the deferent labour rights groups and we will consider all the demands placed by the trade unions.’Aminul said that the demands of the trade unions would be placed before the board for discussion in the next meeting.Meanwhile, two groups of trade union platforms on Monday held separate demonstrations in front of wage board office demanding Tk 16,000 and Tk 18,000 as minimum wage respectively while the first meeting of minimum wage board was going on in the office.During the meeting, Garment Sramik Odhikar Andolan, a coalition of 12 garment labour unions, and Garment Sramik Trade Union Kendro submitted memorandum to the wage board chairman demanding Tk 16,000 as minimum wages for the RMG workers.At the same time, Garments Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad, a platform of 22 labour unions, staged demonstration in front of the wage board demanding Tk 18,000 as minimum wages for garment workers.The wage board chairman told reporters that as per the law some of factors including cost of living, standard of living, cost of production, productivity, price of products, inflation, nature of work, risk and standard, business capability, socio-economic conditions of the country and the locality concerned and other relevant factors would be taken into the consideration for making wage recommendations.Syed Aminul Islam presided over the first meeting of the wage board which was also attended by Dhaka University professor Md Kamaluddin Ahmed as independent member, Kazi Saifuddin Ahmed permanent owner’s representative, Fazlul Haque Montu permanent worker’s representative, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association president and appointed owners’ representative Md Siddiqur Rahman, women affairs secretary of Jatiya Shramik League Shamsunnahar Bhuiyan and appointed workers’ representatives.The government on January 31 issued a gazette notification announcing the name of the owners’ and workers’ representatives of the board to review the monthly minimum wages for garment workers. The move came after the BGMEA on November 08 requested the labour ministry to form a minimum wage board to review the existing wages of the garment workers.The present minimum monthly wage for the garment worker is Tk 5,300 set in 2013. The first minimum wage board for garment workers was constituted in 1994 that fixed Tk 940 as minimum wage per month and the second one, formed in 2006, fixed the minimum wage at Tk 1,662.50 while third board was formed in 2010, fixed minimum wage at Tk 3,000.
