The Minimum Wage Board for the garment industry on Sunday extended the deadline for proposals to July 16. On March 19, in its first meeting the Minimum Wage Board asked the workers and owners representative to place the minimum wage proposals by April 25. During that meeting, several trade unions staged demonstrations in front of the Minimum Wage Board office demanding Tk18,000 as minimum wage. “In the last meeting, the board took the decision that the owners and worker will submit their respective proposals on minimum wage. But both the party sought more time to fine tune their proposals,” said Minimum Wage Board Chairman Syed Aminul Islam told the reporters after the meeting. The board held it second meeting on Sunday. However, Aminul said they will soon announce fair minimum wages for RMG workers.After the proposals are submitted, board member will visit RMG factories at home and abroad to learn about the industry and the conditions of the workers, the chairman said. “We are trying to categorize the job positions with their corresponding wages fairly which is why we sought more time to submit the proposal,” said labor representative Shamsun Nahar Bhuiyan.BGMEA President and owners’ representative Siddiqur Rahman said: “We are very close to finalizing the minimum wage proposal and the reason why we sought more time because we want the proposal to meet the living wages for the workers and make sure the industry can sustain itself as well. We have to set an amount taking the workers needs and owners capacity into account.” On January 13, the Bangladesh government formed the wage board for the RMG sector to formulate a new minimum wage structure for apparel workers within six month of its formation.
