Apparel workers’ wage board meets on April 15
April 9, 2010
The minimum wage board for about three million apparel workers of the country sits on April 15 to review the wages.
It has sent notices to all its members to attend, a board member told New Age.Though the industry earns about 80 per cent of the export earnings of Bangladesh, its workers are the lowest paid in the world, studies show.
The board’s previous notice convening its first meeting on January 24, proved unsuccessful, as the factory owners’ representative, Annisul Huq, expressed his inability to attend.
He, instead, requested the government, the minimum wage board as well as the Bangladesh Garment Manu-facturers and Exporters’ Association (BGMEA) to pick another representative from the current leadership of the association.
Accordingly, BGMEA selected its vice-president Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin as the owners’ representative.
The board, automatically validated for five years, was formed in June 2006.
It had, at that time, recommended to set the minimum wage at Tk 1,662 a month.
The board was activated after the parliamentary standing committee for the labour and employment ministry called for wage raises, because increased cost of living had eroded the earnings of the readymade garment workers.
Accordingly, the ministry on January 14 instructed the minimum wage board to start its work for an upward revision of the wage.
The rules requires the board to recommend, within six months from the first meeting, the minimum wages for the workers and pay scales for the other personnel engaged by the garment ministry.
Source: http://www.newagebd.com
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