The Fair Labour Association (FLA) called global apparel buyers to ensure that their costing and purchasing orders cover the new minimum labour cost of workers in their supply chains.
The FLA in a January report 'Wage trends: Bangladesh' revealed minimal growth in monthly average net wages here over the last four years.
In 2022, it recorded a 4.6-per cent fall despite a 9.02-per cent rise in inflation.
FLA is an international network of apparel companies, universities and civil-society organisations that promote human rights at work.
It recommends that companies take steps to ensure workers in their supply chains in Bangladesh are paid a living wage.
Using the Fair Compensation Dashboard wage data collected by FLA member companies, the FLA analysed workers' average monthly net wages from 2015 to 2022 in Bangladesh.
Analysis since 2018, the FLA has reported on average monthly wages of workers who are working in member company factories and according to this data, workers' monthly net wages increased 42.5 per cent (Tk 3,312 or $30) in 2019 after the minimum wage increase in 2018.
However, over the last four years, the monthly average net wage has increased only 0.95 per cent in total, it revealed.
"In comparison, just in last year, inflation in Bangladesh increased 9.02 per cent and workers' monthly average wage fell 4.6 per cent in the same time frame," reads the report.
The FLA emphasised the urgent need for a living wage, citing a significant 51.78-per cent gap below the Global Living Wage Coalition (GLWC) 2022 living wage estimate for Dhaka.
Meantime, International Labour Organisation (ILO) experts on March 13 reached an agreement that decent wages are central to economic and social development and to advance social justice.
They also play an essential role in reducing poverty and inequality and ensuring a decent and dignified life.
According to the ILO experts, the concept of a living wage refers to "the wage level that is necessary to afford a decent standard of living for workers and their families, taking into account the country circumstances and calculated for the work performed during the normal hours of work."
According to FLA report, suppliers in Bangladesh must pay the new minimum wage, which should be covered in buyers' purchasing prices, including for purchase orders confirmed prior to the minimum wage update.
"Buyers should engage with their suppliers in Bangladesh and ensure that suppliers can provide feedback if purchase orders don't cover increased labour costs and resolve these issues with the support of purchasing departments and senior management." Buyers and suppliers should support workers' rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining and publicly denounce the use of violence against workers and human rights defenders, it recommended.
Fair Labour-accredited companies and suppliers should update supply chain wage data analysis and actions taken to implement their company's fair compensation blueprint.
FLA companies and suppliers should develop sustainable plans with their suppliers and production facilities to improve purchasing and production practices that support progress of workers' wages to meet the GLWC estimates for Bangladesh, the report suggested.
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