The country's 1,200 sub-contracting readymade garment (RMG) factories are yet to implement the new wage board even after more than four months of its announcement, which could spark violence in apparel industrial hubs, officials said.
The state-run Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment (DIFE) said nearly 99 per cent of the sub-contracting factories did not implement the new wages announced by a government-formed wage board in November last year.
The DIFE officials said implementation of the new minimum wage in sub-contracting garment factories located in Dhaka and Chittagong is very low--- less then 1.0 per cent.
According to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), more then 1200 garment factories do subcontract jobs employing nearly 0.7 million workers.
"Almost all of sub-contracting RMG factories are yet to implement the new wage structure for workers," DIFE Inspector General (IG) Syed Ahmad told the FE.
He said more then 99 per cent of the factories did not implement the new wages and most of the factories are located at Dhaka and Chittagong city. Only less than 1.0 per cent of the factories have implemented the new wages, he added.
He said they are concerned about the sub-contracting factories as a large number of garment employees still out of new wage structure."
The government is trying to ensure the implementation of new wages to sub-contracting factories as soon as possible, he said.
RMG sector worker leaders claimed that not only sub-contracting factories but also a large number of big factories have failed to implement the new wage structure.
They said the government-formed wage board for the RMG employees fixed Tk 5300, up from Tk 3000, as minimum wage last November, which was to have been implemented from December 1, 2013.
Bangladesh Jatiya Garments Sramik Karmachari League president Sirajul Islam Rony told the FE although it was declared by the government that the new wage structure should be implemented in all the factories but still now only 1.0 per cent of sub-contracting factory have done so.
He said there are several hundred factories engaged in sub-contracting which are not member of BGMEA.
Sammilito Garment Sramik Federation president Nazma Akter told the FE due to introduction of the new wages the RMG factory owners have been taking many of advantages from the government but they are still ignoring payment according to the new wages.
She said that this condition is making the workers angry as they are feeling deprived of their fair wages.
Factory owners, however, said that more than 85 per cent of garment units including sub-contracting factories had so far implemented the new wage structure.
The large-scale factories had implemented the new wages but the sub-contracting factories are facing problems, BGMEA president Atiqul Islam told the FE.
He said for implementation of new wages they have urged to the buyers as raise the CM charge.
Bank loan at low interest rate and international assistance are needed to improve financial condition of the sub-contracting factories which will help them implement the new wages, he added.
Giant Group Managing Director Faruque Hassan told the FE the RMG factories which engage with sub-contracting units want to implement new wages but the CM prices need to be raised.
He said new wage implementation has become a difficult for the sub-contracting factory owners because of low CM charge.
The RMG sector, the country's largest foreign currency earner, has nearly 5,000 factories with about 4.0 million workers, mostly women.
1200 sub-contracting RMG units yet to implement new wages
Shah Alam Nur | Published: April 05, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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