After months of protests demanding implementation of the new wage scale, jute mill workers in Khulna, Jessore and Narsingdi have received pay slips of their wages under the 2015 pay structure, having an 80-85% increment.
The development took place on Thursday; that too, without the publication of a gazette in this regard. This wage scale was supposed to be effective from July 1, 2015.
Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) on Thursday issued the slips to the workers for their wages from January 4 to 11.
When contacted, BJMC Deputy General Manager (accounts and finance) Ashraf Hossain Chowdhury confirmed the matter, saying the slips were issued without a gazette for the National Wage and Productivity Commission 2015.
The pay slips were issued in line with the latest wage scale, he maintained.
“We handed over the pay slips for seven days starting from January 4 to all state-owned jute mill workers. This decision was made in a joint meeting between the workers, BJMC, labour and jute ministers on January 3,” Ashraf said.
As of 10pm, Dhaka Tribune confirmed that workers of 10 jute mills in Khulna, Jessore and Narsingdi received the pay slips.
Md Ramij Uddin Miah, the BJMC regional coordinator in Khulna, said workers of the region’s nine mills received payslips worth Tk6.85 crore in wages.
“BJMC General Manager (administration and service) Md Nasimul Islam on Tuesday sent us a letter, and we issued and handed over the pay slips as par the new scale,” he told our district correspondent Md Hedait Hossain Molla.
Meanwhile, Shafiqul Islam Molla, president of UMC Jute Mills Employees Union in Narsingdi, also confirmed that pay slips worth Tk1.9 crore were handed over to the mill’s workers on Thursday morning, reports our correspondent Asaduzzaman Ripon.
The last time the workers received their wages were on December 26 last year, but the payment was made in line with the old pay scale of 2010.
BJMC official Ashraf said they were facing trouble in paying the workers as per old pay scale. “So, full implementation and continuation of the new scale will be very challenging,” he feared.
In line with the new wage scale, jute mill workers’ minimum wages are supposed to increase from a paltry Tk4,150 to Tk8,300.
In March 2018, the National Wages and Productivity Commission had submitted a report to the government, prompting the parliament to pass an act in October that requires the government to formally implement the new wage scale by publishing a gazette.
As the authorities dragged the matter of gazette publication, jute mill workers across the country took to the streets, and abstained from work in several phases.
Md Murad Hossain, joint convenor of Collective Bargaining Agents (CBAs) and Non-CBA Sangram Parishad, which represent the jute mill workers, said the pay slips returned smiles on the workers’ faces.
“We are so happy with the move that has come after many days of protests,” he said.
