Wage board proposes 65pc hike in cotton textile workers' pay
FE REPORT | Friday, 23 February 2024
The minimum wage board on Thursday proposed an average 65-percent pay hike for the entry level workers of the cotton textile sector, sources said.
The WB recommended Tk 10,000 as minimum monthly wage for the workers at upazila level while Tk 10,350 for district level and Tk 10,700 for division level of grade 10 or entry level workers respectively, according to an official at the wage board.
The basic payment for an entry level worker has been proposed to be raised to Tk 5,000 for all workers of grade 10 from existing Tk 3,600 per month.
It has also proposed a house rent of 70 per cent, 65 per cent and 60 per cent of the basic pay respectively for divisional, district and upazila level workers.
The wage board has also recommended Tk 750 and Tk 850 as medical and food allowances for all entry level workers while proposed Tk 600, Tk 500 and Tk 400 as transportation allowance for division, district and upazila level workers respectively, the official added.
The last minimum monthly wage for the grade 10 workers of the cotton textile sector was fixed in 2018 at Tk 5,710, Tk 5,990 and Tk 7,170 for the upazila, district and divisional levels respectively.
The official added that a gazette would be issued shortly, seeking opinions, objections if any and the ministry would then finalise the minimum monthly wage for the sector.
Earlier on January 15, the labour ministry appointed Pahartali Textile and Hosiery Mills general manager Md Abdul Malek and Pahartali Textile and Hosiery Mills Workers Union senior vice-president Shahjahan Saju as owners' and workers' representatives to the wage board respectively.
The government formed the wage board for reviewing the wages of the cotton textile sector after workers from many of the textile mills staged demonstrations in several industrial areas and demanded pay hikes considering the high inflation rate and soaring living costs.
Textile mills workers started raising their voice for a pay hike after the same was done in November last year for the readymade garment workers, sources said.
Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) in a statement issued on January 19 said that the labour situation had been deteriorating in many of the cotton textile mills following the announcement of the new wage structure for the readymade garment workers.
BTMA member mills would immediately implement the new wages once announced, it said in the statement.