Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine November Issue 2018 | Page 50

SUSTAINABLE BD TO ADVERTISE GOING TO A GOOD EVENT? Contact Rani Mahendru [phone] (512) [email protected] Send your industry gossip, photos and news to [email protected] Labour leaders urge Government to revise pay structure Labour leaders have called upon Bangladesh Government to revise the wage structure for the apparel industry workers, saying that the newly-announced wage board will be benefiting only a small number out of the 3.6 million workers of the readymade garment industry. They observed that the recent salary hike, where the minimum pay for workers has been raised to BDT 8,000 from the previous BDT 5,300, is applicable only for the workers in the seventh grade,  which includes only 5 per cent of the total workforce. However, there has been a long demand for BDT 16,000 as the minimum wage for the workers. The labour leaders have demanded that the Government raise the basic pay of workers by 70 per cent from 32 per cent that was raised in the recent wage board hike. The basic pay was raised to BDT 4,100 from BDT 3,100 (last fixed in 2013). The observations were made at a round-table discussion titled ‘RMG workers’ wage revision: Reality and way forward’ organised by the the country for a lack of legal measures, said Chowdhury Ashiqul Alam, General Secretary to Bangladesh Trade Union Sangha. Garment buyers should keep workers in mind while settling prices and make sure that factory owners deliver this additional amount to workers, he said. Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka recently. “Only 5 per cent of the workers belong to the seventh grade, meaning that a majority of them are serving as operators and senior operators in the other grades,” said Amirul Haque Amin, President of the National Garment Workers Federation. Hence, he further stated, “So the pay structure needs to be reviewed.” Similarly Kamrul Ahsan, President of Jatiya Sramik Federation, another trade union said that over 80 per cent of garment workers are operators. “So, the salaries of those workers also need to be increased,” he said during the discussion. Salahuddin Swapan, Secretary General of the IndustriALL Bangladesh Council, said the labour law stipulates that the basic pay doubles in every wage revision but it clearly did not happen in this case. He blamed the deviation on the Government. Sirajul Islam Rony, a union leader, said there was still scope for bargaining to increase the salary, although it required unity among union leaders to make it happen. The concept of a national minimum wage cannot be established in Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Research Director of independent think tank Centre for Policy Dialogue, reasoned why they proposed Taka 10,028 as minimum monthly salary, which was way below the union leaders’ demand for Taka 16,000. Both were rejected by the Government. Assistant Professor Mostafiz Ahmed of Jagannath University said the minimum wage was fixed keeping in mind the number of family members, general wage of the country, living costs, social security benefits, living standards of other social groups, productivity and prices of products. Ahmed presented a keynote paper at the event, chaired by Mojibur Rahman Bhuiyan, Vice-Chairman of BILS. Bata Shoe Co. chips in Taka 83 lakh for workers' welfare fund One of Bangladesh’s oldest shoe manufacturing companies, Bata Shoe Company, has chipped in Taka 83.6 lakh for the country’s Workers’ Welfare Fund from their annual profit. Chitpan Kanhasiri, Managing Director of the local subsidiary of Bata Shoe Organisation, led a three-man delegation to the Secretariat office of State Minister for Labour and Employment Md Mujibul Haque, and handed over the cheque amount, recently. share 80 per cent of the company’s 5 per cent profit. Half of the remaining 20 per cent is deposited in the Workers’ Welfare Fund.” in cases of suffering, workplace death, handicap and incurable diseases and education of the workers. Junior Minister Haque said the Workers’ Welfare Foundation Fund, formed under the Labour Act, has been an exemplary step towards labour welfare. “Under the law, employees of a particular company Up until now, more than 118 companies have contributed to the workers’ welfare fund – taking up the total deposit amount to Taka 312 crore. Workers are regularly enjoying benefits from the fund Among others present during the cheque handover were Dr Anisul Awal, Director General of Bangladesh Workers’ Welfare Foundation, and officers of the ministry. 50 Apparel Online Bangladesh | November 2018 | www.apparelresources.com