Shahjahan Khan, the convener of Garments Workers Coordination Committee, today urged readymade garments owners to accept and implement the revised wage structure for the workers that came following eight days of unrest in the sector.“The problems in the garments sector can be solved through dialogue,” Shahjahan Khan said at a press conference arranged at the Swadhinota Hall in Shegunbagicha this morning.The former shipping minister called the press brief following the agitation across the readymade garments sector that started on January 6 over the disparity in the wage structure.“RMG owners should try to uncover the problems behind the dissatisfaction among workers instead of trying to find local and foreign conspiracy behind this,” he said at the press briefing.These problems can be solved through discussion with the trade union and participatory committee at the factory level, Shahjahan Khan said.“We would like to call upon the RMG owners to be considerate of the RMG workers and to ensure no one is harassed illegally,” he added.
WHAT WERE THE WORKERS DEMANDING?
The workers alleged that the monthly wage in the seventh grade increased to Tk 8,000 from Tk 5,300 as per the latest gazette published by the government last year. But, the salary of the workers in other grades did not increase at the same rate.The salary hike for the entry-level workers was more than that of their senior operators, who have been working for more than seven to eight years. The new wage has been effective from December 1. Major disparity in the salary hike was noticed in the third and fourth grades as their salaries were not raised like that of entry-level workers.In most of the grades, other than the seventh, only Tk 500 was raised in the new salary structure, whereas an entry-level worker’s salary had increased by Tk 2,700 at one go.
THE LATEST POLICY DEVELOPMENT
After nearly one and half months of protests, the government has revised the pay structure for the garments industry workers giving a raise between Tk 15 and Tk 786.This revision was the raise from the new wage board put into effect from December 2018.Meanwhile, apparel industry workers had threatened the workers to shut down the factories if they do not return to work from Monday.
