RMG-sector wage board to be formed Sunday, minister reasserts

The wage board on hiking the minimum monthly pay for garment workers will be announced in a notification on Sunday, said Labour and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury on Saturday.

The minister reiterated the move a day after announcing it as garment workers launched protests on Saturday defying the government assurance.

Following a meeting with leaders of garment factory owners’ bodies, he also urged the workers to suspend their agitation, being waged to press for wage hike and end to arbitrary dismissals.

The meeting was held at the Srama Bhaban, Bijoynagar in the capital.

Representatives from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) joined the meeting.

The leaders of BGMEA and BKMEA have agreed to forming the wage board, in the same way the labour leaders have agreed, Ariful Haque Choudhury said at a post-meeting briefing.

A day earlier, the minister held a five-hour meeting with labour leaders, assuring them that the wage board on wage hike would be formed on Sunday, he informed the factory owners in Saturday’s meeting.

The workers’ leaders had also submitted a list of their representatives for the upcoming wage board, the minister told the factory owners.

He also urged the factory owners to pay the outstanding wages to workers, the minister said at the briefing.

After the agreement on wage board and progress on outstanding wage payment, protests are unnecessary and unwarranted, he said at the briefing, urging the agitators to withdraw the movement.

He also claimed that amid the progress on meeting their demands, it is unlikely that all those protesting on the streets are workers.

Some outsiders are inciting the workers and impersonating as labour protesters, he alleged, calling on media outlets to reveal the faces of the “infiltrators” through CCTV footage reviews.

On Saturday, talks were also held with factory owners on paying wages for a given month within the first seven days of the next month, the Ariful Haque said at the presser.

However, for paying the wages in due time, the factory managers and owners need to register sales and income. Protests and vandalism will disrupt sales and production activities, and consequently, wage payment, the minister said, addressing the protesting workers.