Garment makers' leader Md Siddiqur Rahman has urged readymade garment workers not to pay heed to 'rumour' as he suspected that 'local and foreign elements' are fuelling the ongoing unrest.
"It's rumour that workers' wages were not hiked... It's not true, the lowest pay hike was at least Tk 1,200," he said.
The president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said this at the inaugural ceremony of Bangladesh International Sewing Machinery and Accessories Fair in Dhaka on Wednesday.
He said pay was increased by 41 per cent at the highest grade and 51 per cent at the lowest grade.
Mr Rahman said a handful of so-called workers' leaders are inciting by confusing "our innocent workers".
"If anything has to be fixed, if there is any grievance," he said, "first try to solve it at factory level, then the BGMEA is here."
"If BGMEA fails too, the government will resolve it, but vandalism in factory and streets are not acceptable," he uttered.
The BGMEA chief said if readymade garments sector suffers, the workers will also suffer.
"Not only workers, the entire country, all the related sectors will suffer as this is main export-earning sector," he maintained.
Mr Rahman assured that a committee has been formed to scrutinise new wage hike. "If anything has to be fixed, committee will do it." The workers' representatives are also on the committee.
China Sewing Machinery Association secretary general Chen Ji, BGMEA vice-president (finance) Md Nasir and second vice-president Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, among others, also spoke at the event.
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