The minimum wage board for the cotton textile industry is scheduled to hold its first meeting at its office in the city today (Tuesday) to review minimum wages for the workers of the sector, sources said.
Earlier on January 15, the labour ministry appointed representatives from the owners and workers in the sector to the board following demonstrations staged by the workers from many textile mills in several industrial areas demanding pay hike.
Pahartali Textile and Hosiery Mills general manager Md Abdul Malek and Pahartali Textile and Hosiery Mills Workers Union senior vice-president Shahjahan Saju have been appointed as the owners' and workers representatives to the board respectively, said an official.
In 2018, the last minimum wages for the workers of the sector were set at Tk 5,710 with Tk 3,600 as basic pay.
Textile mills workers started raising their voice for a pay hike after the same was done for the readymade garment workers last month, sources said.
Workers from a good number of textile mills staged demonstrations in several industrial areas and demanded raising their wages considering the high inflation rate and soaring living costs, they added.
Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) in a statement issued on January 19 said that the labour situation has been deteriorating in many of the cotton textile mills following the announcement of the new wage structure for the RMG workers.
The association also said that they got assurance from the labour ministry that the new minimum wages for the cotton textile sector workers would be announced within two weeks.
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