Guidelines on sweater factory workers\\\' wages finalised

Monira Munni | Published: November 28, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

The government has finalised policy guidelines on wages in sweater factories.
The policy, among others, incorporates provisions relating to lean-period payment and fixation of piece rates in consultation with both the workers and the management, officials said.
The Labour Ministry, at a meeting on Wednesday, finalised the draft policy prepared by a 12-member committee that was formed to identify problems and find out ways out of the prevailing disputes over payment, workers' grades and other benefit-related issues.
"No sweater factory worker will get less than the minimum wage structure, even in the off-season, set for the garment factory workers," Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar told the FE Thursday.
The piece-rate has to be fixed immediately after a sample work is done, he said adding if workers raise objection over rate fixation of any item, it will be fixed again after discussion with workers and floor in-charges.
Earlier, there was no such practice of re-fixing the rate amid workers' objection, labour leaders said.
Traditionally, sweater factory workers get payment on the basis of piece rate, the number of pieces they produce daily. And the rate is not fixed in the sector. It is the owners, who fix the rate according to design and work.
The Labour Ministry will issue a circular on the policy that has been adopted and finalised in the wake of labour leaders' allegation that the sweater factory workers are being deprived of legal service benefits and not benefitted by the enhanced wage structure announced last December as nothing was made clear regarding the piece rate workers.
The sweater factory workers also demanded hike in their piece-rate payment in accordance with the newly-announced wage award for garment workers.
They usually earn much compared to that of garment factory workers, a meeting source said explaining that during the lean or off-season especially November to February, many sweater factories remain closed due to absence of work orders.
During that period, many workers become jobless, he said. Now the policy incorporates the provision safeguarding them. The factory owners must pay the basic according to the minimum wage structure.
"If there is less work and a worker's payment fails to reach the amount of minimum wage structure, the factory owners will have to pay according to the structure," a meeting source said. But if the workers earnings are higher than those of the minimum wage structure, he will get the higher amount.
Md Hatem, former vice president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), said all the workers will be paid according to the sixth grade of minimum wage structure when there is a scarcity of work orders or no orders.
"If any factory has no work, its workers will be paid the sixth grade's basic Tk 3,270," he, also a member of the committee, said.
Pay slips with details will be provided during monthly wage payment and the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments will monitor whether the sweater factory workers are getting all the benefits or not, the policy said.
The policy also excludes the owners' recommendation of considering the sweater factory job as a 'seasonal work' and following the strategy of 'No work, no pay'.
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