There would be no compromise on the wage issue, warned leaders of 45 garment workers’ organisations yesterday in a rally held in front of the National Press Club, to press home their demand of a Tk8, 000 minimum wage.
“The wage of garment workers is very low compared to other countries. We will not compromise on the issue,” said labour leader Delwar Hossain Khan, adding that the wages should ensure better living standards for garment workers.
Abul Hossain, a garment workers’ leader, urged apparel manufacturers and exporters to “hand over your properties which you earned from this sector to the prime minister, along with the keys of the factories.” He also urged the prime minister to give workers a “fair wage” before the upcoming national elections.
Another leader, Amirul Haque Amin, echoed Abul and said the drama surrounding the minimum wage should be stopped now.
Speakers at the rally also said the proposed minimum wage of Tk5, 300 was a deception.
However, apparel manufacturers and exporters have threatened to shut down factories unless the government reviews within the next 15 days the recommendation of Tk5, 300 minimum wage.
The warning came a day after a government-formed wage board proposed the amount, up from the existing Tk3, 000 monthly minimum wage.
Atiqul Islam, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), told a press conference in Dhaka on Tuesday it was a “suicidal proposal, void of reality, unacceptable and irrational.” He said apparel makers were not ready to pay anything over Tk4,250.
He said the garment makers would meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and seek an exit policy from the government, if their recommended salary of Tk4,250 was not finalised.
Mofijur Rahman Babul, general secretary of Bangladesh National Garments Workers’ Employees Federation, told the Dhaka Tribune that the workers were united and ready to foil all conspiracies against the minimum wage demanded by the workers.