Labour rights bodies continued to put pressure on the authorities concerned to review the recently proposed minimum wage for the garment workers, with the latest request in this regard coming from Industriall Global Union, global right group.
Terming the proposed wage ‘insufficient’ to meet the daily needs, Industriall general secretary Atle Hoie has requested the minimum wage board to revise the new wages.
He wrote a letter to board chairman Liaquet Ali Mollah on Friday, a couple of days before the board’s scheduled meeting to finalise the proposal today (Sunday).
State minister for labour on November 07 proposed a Tk 12,500 minimum monthly wage amid workers’ agitation for two weeks, rejecting the owners’ proposal of Tk 10,400 against their demand of Tk 23,000.
Until Wednesday, the wage board received more than 200 objections, with a majority of 168 letters from garment exporters and 30 from union federations and one each from TIB (Transparency International Bangladesh) and BLAST (Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust).
Exporters demanded a cut in the proposed wage to Tk 10,400 and the workers sought a hike to Tk 23,000.
“It is unfortunate that their demands (trade unions) have not been heard and it seems only employers’ proposals were considered while deciding the new minimum wage,” Mr Hoie said in the letter.
He said Bangladesh, like many other South Asian countries, has been witnessing skyrocketing inflation – food inflation in October crossed 12 per cent which is the highest in at least a decade.
Arguing over BGMEA’s (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) claim that a 56 per cent wage hike has been proposed, he said, in real terms the hike is only 14 per cent if the rate of inflation is adjusted.
If the current pace at which inflation is rising continues then in real terms workers will actually be earning much less than what they currently do, thereby making daily survival difficult for workers.
Furthermore, while looking at the minimum wage, it is unfair to consider the monthly gross wage which ranges from Tk 17,000 to Tk 20,000 and includes two to four hours of overtime per day, Mr Hoie said.
Earlier on November 16, a coalition of five international organisations -Fair Labor Association, Amfori, Ethical Trading Initiative, Fair Wear and Mondiaal FNV – expressed concern over the recently announced minimum wage for garment workers.
In a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the group called for reassessing the proposed minimum wage and encouraged a collaborative effort between employer and worker representatives to establish a legal minimum wage that aligns with international labour and industry standards respecting human rights.
The coalition represents over 2,500 brands, retailers, and suppliers and working with more than 2,900 factories in Bangladesh.
Clean Clothes Campaign, the garment industry’s largest alliance of labour unions and non-governmental organizations, earlier mentioned that the factory owners in Bangladesh claim they cannot afford the minimum wage to be set higher than Tk 12,500, and some claim this wage might even put some subcontractors out of business.
“However, it is the buyers – the international fashion brands – who dictate prices in the industry. In principle, their purchasing prices should always allow factory owners to pay workers a living wage,” it said.
Still, in most cases, the prices paid by brands are barely enough to pay the poverty-level minimum wages in countries like Bangladesh.
News Source : thefinancialexpress
