A fresh owner-worker faceoff looms large as both parties reject Tk 12,500 as minimum wage for garment workers, fixed by the government amid labour unrest, as too high and too low respectively.
Sources say factory owners in the multi-stakeholder export industry want the amount of minimum monthly wage cut to Tk 10,400 while the labour side sticks to their demand for raising it to Tk 23,000, thus reopening the tumultuous wage wrangles.
Incidentally, the latest developments are taking place-after a lull over the recent flares-ups-in the wake of implicit warning of trade restrictions from the West in the event of 'intimidation' against labour action and labour-rights campaigners.
The Wage Board until Wednesday had received more than 200 objections, with majority or 168 letters from garment exporters and 30 from union federations and one each from TIB (Transparency International Bangladesh) and BLAST or Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, they added.
There are more than 3,500 garment factories operating across the country while 1,263 trade unions with some 60 union federations are registered with the Department of Labour.
Earlier on November 11, the ministry of labour and employment issued a gazette notification announcing Tk 12,500 as minimum monthly wage for garment workers as recommended by the minimum wage board for the readymade garment sector.
It also sought opinions, objections or recommendations from stakeholders or individuals, if any, within 14 days of publication of the gazette notification. The timeline ends tomorrow (Friday).
"So far, we have received 200 letters, mostly from factory owners seeking reduction in the proposed wage to Tk 10,500," said one source.
The issues will be discussed in the next meeting scheduled for November 26 and take next course of action accordingly, added the source.
Industriall Bangladesh Council, the local chapter of the Geneva-based global rights group, Wednesday urged the government to re-fix a 'reasonable' amount through discussion with its affiliates and other rights groups.
Its other recommendations included 65-percent basic pay, 10-percent annual increment and mandatory inclusion of grades in workers' identity cards.
Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation president Nazma Akter on November 20 in an objection letter to the wage boar chairman demanded revision of the proposed wage to Tk 23,000 with 65-percent basic pay.
She also demanded, among others, a Tk 2,000 difference between grades.
Garment Sramik Andolan for Increasing Wages of Workers coordinator Taslima Akhter in a separate letter on November 12 demanded Tk 25,000 as minimum monthly wage for an entry-level worker.
She also urged preservation of grades one and two, and merging grades five and six with three and four and replacing existing grade seven to five.
TIB in its letter on Tuesday termed the new minimum wage for the garment workers just 'juggling with figures' and urged the wage board to review the award.
It also claimed that wage board announced a 52-56-percent hike in gross wages, while the real rate ranged between 25 per cent and 28.88 per cent.
"If a 5.0-percent annual increment, high inflation and US dollar exchange rate had been taken into consideration, the wages would not increase by 30 per cent in real terms," the TIB opines.
Meantime, since October 23, the sector had witnessed more than two-week-long wage protests on demand for wage hike to Tk 23,000 through rejecting the government-announced Tk 12,500 on November 07.
The fracas also resulted in shutdown of about 130 garment factories for several days, mostly in Ahsulia and Gazipur industrial units, after workers clashed with police on a key highway and ransacked Tusuka, a top garment-manufacturing unit, along with a dozen other factories.
At least four garment workers lost their lives while hundreds were injured and cases filed accusing thousands, a hundred arrested and jailed in connection with the violence.
A coalition of five international organisations-Fair Labor Association, Amfori, Ethical Trading Initiative, Fair Wear and Mondiaal FNV-on November 16 expressed concerns about 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.
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