Garment Workers’ Trade Union Centre (GWTUC) Friday urged all RMG workers to unite and join the movement to increase entry level minimum wage toTk8,000
At a rally organised by the Trade Union Centre in front of the National Press Club Friday, leaders said all the organisations working for garment workers agreed that the minimum wage should be increased to Tk8,000, so now they needed to act responsibly to move forward.
The rally was also attended by Manjurul Ahsan Khan of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), who said: “Following the deaths at Rana Plaza, people at home and abroad are becoming more vocal about workers’ wages and the state of their workplace.”
“Garment workers in Bangladesh are paid the lowest compared to workers in other countries,” said the CPB leader, and added: “Even those employed in other sectors in this country are paid higher wages then garment workers.”
Calling upon the prime minister to stand beside the workers instead of the factory owners, he said: “You won the election because hundreds of garment workers voted for you, not because of votes from Sohel Rana and factory owners.”
Labour leader Shahidullah Chowdhury said workers should stay alert of “fake” trade unions that are nothing more than the owners’ agents, and must carefully forge a united movement for the salary raise.
Advocate Montu Ghosh, president of GWTUC presided at the event and demanded an immediate stop to persecution and repression, such as workers fired for forming unions. He also underscored the need for food rationing and residential colonies for RMG workers.
Executive president of GWTUC Sadekur Rahman Shamim urged the government to cancel the existing labour act as it has failed to safeguard workers’ interests. He said that a “democratic labour act” should be introduced instead.