Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine February Issue 2019 | Page 16

COVER STORY APPAREL RESOURCES NEWSLETTERS FACEBOOK FRIENDS To subscribe, send us an email at [email protected] Join more than 10,000 people who are already fans of Apparel Resources on facebook. Search for Apparel Resources at https://www.facebook.com/apparelresources/ Workers’ unrest sends industry into a tailspin › The more than a week-long agitation by the garment workers in the beginning of 2019 is loaded with implications… Team Apparel Online traces the entire development – cause and effect, to throw some light on this very complicated and unfortunate incident. It has been a long wait for the workers to finally witness the hike in minimum wages, keeping with the recommendations of the minimum wage board – which itself went through a lot of twists and turns with workers’ bodies and civil societies joining hands to put in their demands as to what should be the new wage structure. A more than fifty per cent increase in minimum wage – well-accepted by the apparel makers, who are already stretched thin by falling margins and increasing overheads – the new rule with regard to minimum wage A. H. Aslam Sunny, Managing Director, Crony Group structure was expected to sort out the workers’ demand for a wage increase. This in turn would ensure that the industry could move ahead with a renewed thrust towards achieving its goal of earning US $ 50 billion from apparel exports by 2021. As the New Gazi Mahabubul Alam, Director, Mahmud Group 16 Apparel Online Bangladesh | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.apparelresources.com Year dawned and the industry was busy planning its course of action to achieve the goal, the workers, rather than reporting to work, hit the streets to protest what they called discrepancies in the wage structure. The workers alleged that the monthly wage in the seventh grade has been increased to Taka 8,000 from Taka 5,300 as per the latest gazette published by the Government last year, but the salaries of the workers in other grades have reportedly not been increased at the same rate. It may be mentioned here that in September last year, the Government raised the minimum monthly wage for RMG workers by around 51 per cent to Taka 8,000 from Taka 5,300, which took effect from December. However, as per the workers, the agitation was more of an outcome of concerns over ‘discriminatory’ wage hike with no evaluation of merit and experience in the new pay structure. According to them, a newcomer who joined in December, under the new structure will get a wage of Taka 8,000 and people working for several years now and those who have experience, will also be receiving close to what a newcomer would get. Further, many