Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine January Issue 2019 | Page 30

INDUSTRY DIARY - 2018
New Minimum Wage
The Bangladesh Government has decided to fix the minimum
wage for the 3.6 million workers employed in the readymade
garment sector of the country at Taka 8,000, which has left
the garment manufacturers, who are already reeling under
falling margins, as a worried lot. What could be the business
implications of this going into 2019?
President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA)
The Minimum Wage Board for the
RMG sector has set the new minimum
wage at the amount of
US $ 97 per month. This is for
unskilled workers who have
just joined the industry with no
knowledge about factory. This is a
51 per cent increase compared to
the earlier figure and will certainly
create pressure on our factories as
we are competing globally. However,
ensuring the well-being of the
workers down the supply chain is
a core element of responsible and
sustainable business. We will do our
best to comply with the new minimum
wage and I believe buyers will come
forward by paying justified price,
as they have been also asking for
increasing the minimum wage. The
President of the American Apparel
& Footwear Association (AAFA) sent
a letter to the Honourable Prime
Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh
Hasina requesting her intervention to
increase the minimum wage of the
workers, and the letter was copied
to many, including BGMEA. At the
same time, workers shall also have to
come forward, take responsibility to
<<
Business is not what it was a few years
back and 2018 has been quite a year
in terms of the challenges faced, be it
the rising overheads, falling margins,
sustainability, labour issues and wage
increase.Therefore, entities were forced
to innovate to beat the challenges –
some successfully and some lingering
and unsolved yet. In this column of the
retrospective issue, we bring forth to
you the top challenges faced from the
industry’s perspective, going forward
many of which might cast their ominous
reflections in 2019. Let’s hear it out from
the industry itself…
<<
<< Challenges
of 2018: Few
transient,
many
lingering… < <
Md. Siddiqur Rahman
improve productivity and cooperate
with the factories to tackle the
impact. So it’s not only about the
factories but also about the other
players playing their roles to help the
industry sustain. I hope by enhancing
the minimum wage, we have shown
our commitment towards the well-
being of the workers in addition to
what we have been doing for the
last five years to ensure their safety.
Bangladesh, being an LDC, now
offers a wage much higher than many
developing countries and we take it
as a progress towards establishing a
sustainable industry in Bangladesh.
Nipun Kundu
Division Manager (Sourcing), OODJI
30 Apparel Online Bangladesh | January 2019 | www.apparelresources.com
The increase in minimum
wage would have some
implications for the sector,
including stakeholders like
us. We were planning to
increase our sourcing volume
by around 25 per cent, but
are now facing problems in
doing so due to the salary
increase issue.