First meeting of the minimum wage board took place at their own premise in Dhaka yesterday but ended up with no specific proposal for the monthly salary of the worker in RMG sector. Though there was an expectation that the board members will propose something for the rescheduling salary for garment workers. More than four million workers are engaged in this largest exporting sector of Bangladesh.
Mr. Liaquat Ali Mollah, chairman of the wage board said, on the first day, mainly the introduction was held among the members of the wage board. Earlier on 9th April, ministry of labour and employment had formed the four permanent members of this new wage board, headed by senior district judge Mr. Liaquat Ali Mollah. The three other members are – Bangladesh Employers’ Federation representative, Moksud Belal Siddiqui, workers’ representative Jatiya Sramik League leader Sultan Ahmed, and independent member Dhaka University Professor Md Kamal Uddin.
Along with that, the ministry also had announced the names of two members – former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association Md Siddiqur Rahman and Bangladesh National Garments Workers Employees League President Sirajul Islam Rony – as owners’ and workers’ representatives respectively. As per the Bangladesh Labour Act and labour rules, the government will form a new wage board every five years and it will set a new wage structure.
Earlier in December 2018, the government-nominated board declared a new pay structure fixing the minimum wage at Tk8,000 per month. Since early 2022, RMG workers had staged demonstrations several times demanding the formation of a new wage board expressing that Tk 24,000 as the monthly minimum wage, citing skyrocketing inflation in the country.
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