The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has called on all readymade factory (RMG) owners to implement the newly declared minimum wage for the sector from 1 December.
BGMEA President Faruque Hassan made the call in a letter addressed to the association’s members on Wednesday (22 November).
He wrote that “I have informed you my views about the wage issues in my earlier letter, while the minimum wage board was in negotiation. You are aware that the negotiation process is completed, and the government has declared the minimum wage for garment workers on 7 November which was published in an official gazette dated 11 November 2023.
“The minimum monthly wage for an unskilled / entry level worker is set at Tk12,500 taka, increased by 56.25% at gross.
“As per the formal procedure, the Minimum Wage Board keeps a window open for public comments for 14 days after it publishes the draft gazette. I would encourage you to submit your concerns, comments or suggestions on this declared wage, if any, to the Chairman of the minimum wage board. After the next meeting of the Minimum Wage Board, with the comments and necessary amendments, the final wage will be declared.”
He also said, “Minimum wage is being reviewed every 5 years following a proper consultation procedure. It was no different this time. But the three weeks long anarchy and violent protest we have seen does not have any logic and is quite unfortunate. This has not only caused financial damages to the industry and unfortunate loss of lives, but questioned our stability and reputation again.
“We took all-out efforts from BGMEA to contain the situation with support from the government and from workers’ representatives, and we are now engaged with wider stakeholders including local and international media to counter the disinformation and propaganda against the industry.
“As soon as the illegal strikes and violent protests started, once again we saw anti-industry bias in media reports as some global media agencies published reports with wrong information and misrepresentation of the facts. I have immediately issued a clarification statement to all pressmedia outlets and copied all of our embassies abroad, sharing what actually happened during those three weeks.
“Since our valued buyers and brands were worried about the shocking uprising of violence around the industry amid the declaration of a new minimum wage structure, we invited the representatives of all the brands and retailers’ liaison offices in Dhaka to the BGMEA office on 15 November.”
He continued, “Before this meeting, I also wrote a letter on 8 November to all the brands and retailers worldwide, who are sourcing from Bangladesh, informing them about the new wage structure and urging for reasonable price upcharge. There was a significant turnout of almost all the brands operating in Bangladesh with the country heads being present, and we had a cordial and open discussions over wage, competitiveness and sustainability issues. At the meeting we apprised them once again about the increase in minimum wages and its impact on gross wage payment, payment of overtime and other allowances.”
Earlier this month the government set the minimum wage for RMG workers at Tk12,500, in alignment with the proposal put forth by factory owners ignoring workers’ demand of a Tk20000 minimum wage.
After the sixth meeting of the Minimum Wage Board for the ready-made garment sector on Tuesday, State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Monnujan Sufian said the wage has been hiked by 56% from Tk8,000 following the instructions of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
