The government has announced the minimum wage structure for workers in jute factories in the private sector.
According to a gazette notification published yesterday, Tk2,700 was set as the minimum monthly wage for skilled workers and Tk2,400 for trainee workers.
Monirul Islam, deputy secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, signed the gazette on behalf of the president of Bangladesh.
The gazette also classified the officials and employees of the private jute mills into nine categories and fixed minimum wages between Tk3,200 to Tk4,400.
Workers had been divided into eight categories with Tk2,700 set as the minimum basic wage for grade-1 workers and Tk3,575 for grade-8 workers.
Apart from the basic monthly pay, the workers would also be awarded house rent equal to 40% of the basic monthly pay, Tk400 as a medical allowance and Tk200 as a conveyance allowance.
With the benefits package, the minimum gross monthly pay for grade-1 workers would be Tk4,380 and Tk5,606 for grade-8 workers.
According to the new wage structure, workers would also be paid washing, night and best attendance allowances.
The gazette obliges jute mill authorities to pay compensation to those workers who are suspended as per the Labour Law 2006.
The categorisation for officials and employees however was put in reverse order with grade-1 employees paid the highest of Tk4,400 and grade-9 employees paid the lowest Tk3,200.
They would also enjoy benefits similar to the workers, the gazette said.
It also said the house rent of officials, workers and employees living in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi would be adjusted according to the living standards in those areas.