Close on heels of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), reportedly, requesting the Government to put on hold the annual increment of the garment workers for the next 2 years keeping in mind the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses, the Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation (SGSF) has called upon the Government not to skip the implementation of the 5 per cent annual wage hike. In a statement issued in this direction by SGSF’s General Secretary Nahidul Hasan Nayan President Nazma Akter has underlined that the Government should carefully consider the same so that the garment workers, who are responsible for keeping the country’s economic wheel running, are not deprived of any legal rights. The President of the BKMEA — the BKMEA is a platform of around 2,300-odd knitwear factories — AKM Salim Osman in a letter to the Labour and Employment Ministry had, reportedly, called for deferring implementation of the 5 per cent annual wage hike for the apparel workers for next 2 years. The SGSF, a union based in Bangladesh, which reportedly represents over 100,000 workers in the apparel manufacturing sector of Bangladesh and works towards strengthening unions and achieving decent working conditions, has protested the move and urged the Government not to pay heed to the request of BKMEA.
