CPD, CA recommend minimum wage for garment workers at Tk 17,568

The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and Christian Aid (CA) at a round table on Sunday has called for refixing Tk 17,568 as minimum wage for workers in the garment sector.
 
The event titled 'Redetermination of Minimum Wage in Garments Sector: Observations and Recommendations' dwelt with the cost of livelihood of garment workers in the prevailing situation and said such refixing is overdue to ensure a minimum living.
 
CPD's research director, Dr. Khandker Golam Moazzem, in his keynote paper thus proposed a significant increase in the minimum wage for garment workers at Tk17,568.

He said the current minimum wage for garment workers, was last updated in 2018, at Tk8,000 which is quite insignificant in the present context.

CPD's has proposal the new scale taking into account factors such as inflation and the financial well-being of workers.

Golam Moazzem said wage redetermination process for the garment sector is underway, with a government-appointed wage board established in last April to deal with the matter.  Various stakeholders have expressed different viewpoints.
 
Factory owners are suggesting minimum wage from Tk12,000; workers are demanding Tk18,000, and labor unions are demanding yet higher between Tk22,000 and Tk25,000.

CPD Senior Researcher Tamim Ahmed presented a report in the event, emphasizing the importance of wage refixation in times of high inflation and economic hardship.

The study surveyed 228 workers from 76 garment factories in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur, and Chittagong, while talked to six factory owners.

Tamim Ahmed says Bangladesh pays lower wages to garment workers compared to other countries in South Asia. He pointed out that minimum wage rates of 2018 wage board have not been fully implemented over the past five years; 42.1 percent factories lack grading system, leading to wage uncertainty despite obligations to pay workers based on grades.

The study also found a significant percentage of workers not aware of the grading system or their specific grade, complicating wage issues.

Additionally, 30 percent of workers who joined after 2019 earn less than Tk8,000, even though 41.7 percent stated their salaries were below this threshold.

Furthermore, 17.1 percent of companies did not provide fixed annual increments.

Digital payments were suggested as a means to introduce transparency in the sector, but the study revealed that 49.5 percent of factories did not comply in 2023, down from 50 percent in 2022.

They still pay in cash despite 80 percent of workers are having mobile financial services (MFS) accounts.

The role of brands in implementing the minimum wage was also criticized. If they had showed seriousness on the issue, the outcome would have been different. Key figures such as Nuzhat Jabin, Interim Country Director of Christian Aid, Liaqat Ali Mollah, Chairman of Minimum Wage Board, Farooq Hasan, President of BGMEA, and Mohammad Hatem, Executive President of BKMEA, were present at the event, emphasizing the importance of addressing wage issues in the garment sector.