Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President MdSiddiqur Rahman has said apparel workers will not get paid if they do not go back to the workplace from Monday.
The BGMEA chief said thisin a press briefing on Sunday in wake of massive labour unrest.
Urging all workers to get back in their respective workstations, he said: “If you do not go back tomorrow, you will not be paid and your respective factories will be shut down indefinitely as per Section 13(1) of the labour law.”
The ready-made garment (RMG) workers have been staging demonstrations in Gazipur, Savar and many places of the capital sinceJanuary 6 in protest of discrepancies in the new wage structure formed by the government before the general election.
The BGMEA president said: “There is no reason to form a movement over the new wage structure. The government has already formed a new committee with labour leaders, representatives of law enforcement and owners. The committee is working on the matter.”
A vested quarter is adding fuel to the labour unrest, which was unexpected and will greatly hamper the garment industry, he warned.
“If the garment sector is damaged due to careless unrest, then your livelihoods will be at stake and you will be jobless,” he added.
Earlier in the day, BGMEA called an emergency press conference over the ongoing labour unrest.
Amidst continuous worker unrest in the garments sector, the government decided to remove wage discrepancies in the new wage structure for Bangladesh’s apparel sector.
In an emergency meeting on January 12, the committee decided, in principle, to make necessary adjustments to plug anomalies in different grades of the wage structure.
On January 7, a 10-member committee was formed to resolve the crisis.
Why are the RMG workers protesting?
On September 13 last year, the government set Tk8,000 as the minimum monthly wage, with Tk4,100 as basic salary, for the country’s apparel workers. The new wage structure was implemented in December 2018.
Ready-made garment (RMG) workers have been protesting in different parts of Dhaka—including Mirpur, Ashulia and Gazipur –since January 6,over discrepancies in the new wage structure.
