Amid protests by RMG workers demanding a rise in increment, alongside other benefits, the government today decided to add a 4% hike to the regular annual raise of 5%.
Speaking at a briefing at the Bangladesh Secretariat this evening, Labour and Employment Adviser M Sakhawat Hussain said the RMG workers will get the 9% increase in their salary this year.
The increase will come into effect with their December salaries, he added.
The announcement comes as the RMG industry grapples with frequent worker unrest demanding payment of arrears and increasing wages.
Sakhawat said, “In consideration of the overall situation [in the country], it has been decided to provide a 9% salary increment to the workers of the RMG industry,” he said.
“Of the total increment, the RMG workers will get a 5% regular salary increase as prescribed by the Minimum Wage Board. Besides, the owner and the workers have agreed to another additional 4% increment,” added the adviser.
He said the workers will enjoy the increment in their December salaries.
He also said workers who aren’t eligible for the yearly increment will also get the additional 4% increase.
The increase will stay in effect till the next wage board is announced, stated Sakhawat.
Speaking about the ongoing workers’ unrest in the industry, he said, “Conspiracies are being hatched both at home and abroad. Newspapers of different countries are reporting that now is the time to divert [apparel] buyers from Bangladesh. Many workers are protesting without understanding. Provocation is also coming from many places.”
At the event, Labour Secretary AHM Shafiquzzaman said, “The issue of an increase in the yearly increment was included in the 18-point demands jointly prepared by the owners and workers to improve the labour standards in the apparel sector.”
A committee was later formed to that end. The committee has now submitted its recommendation. “They recommended providing a 4% additional increment in addition to the regular 5% annual increment. Both the workers and owners have agreed to this.”
General Secretary of Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation Babul Akhter said the decision was made after five meetings.
He urged the workers to return to work and maintain production and not to step into any local or foreign conspiracy.
Bangladesh has been experiencing waves of worker unrest in recent months, particularly in the RMG factories in Savar, Gazipur and Naraynganj industrial areas. Protesters have set fire to factories, attacked owners and clashed with locals in Gazipur during the unrest. Many have been sued and detained.
Earlier today, at least three RMG factories in Ashulia announced general holidays as workers stopped working over various demands, including a 15% annual increment and a minimum wage of Tk25,000.
“Workers at the New Age, Al Muslim, and Nasar factories stopped working in the morning and left the factories around 11am over several demands,” an officer from the Ashulia Industrial Police, unwilling to be named, told The Business Standard.
“The authorities of these three factories later declared a holiday. A similar holiday was also declared in another factory yesterday [8 December] due to a work stoppage due to the same demands,” he added.
