Good news for garment workers. Declaration of Separate Wage Board

The Dhaka Times Desk Separate Wage Board announced for garment workers. As a result of the announcement of the wage board, the workers will get salary according to the new structure from May 1 of this year, said Abdul Latif Siddiqui, Minister of Textiles and Jute, a member of the Cabinet for Garment Industry. He gave this information to reporters yesterday.

The formation of this board was announced at a press conference of the Ministry of Labor and Employment at the secretariat on May 12 yesterday. But on the other hand, BGMEA and BKMEA leaders said that they will not pay the salary according to the new structure from May 1, even though they accept the formation of the wage board.

Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, MP Israfil Alam, Salman F Rahman, AK Azad Chowdhury, Salim Osman and other leaders of BGMEA and BKMEA and various labor organizations were present in the press conference.

Latif Siddiqui said that after the collapse of Rana Plaza in Savar, there were various types of dissatisfaction with the salaries of workers in different parts of the country. As a result, there has been apprehension among the workers. In order to remove this dissatisfaction and apprehension, it was decided to form this wage board on the instructions of the Prime Minister. The Board has been constituted as per Section 206 of the Labor Act.

Textiles and Jute Minister Latif Siddiqui said that since the collapse of Rana Plaza, domestic and foreign forces have started various activities to create instability in the garment industry. Attempts are being made to create political instability.

BGMEA president Atiqul Islam said, we have accepted the formation of wage board. However, it cannot be implemented from May 1 of this year.

BKMEA president Salim Osman said the government has constituted a wage board. From the time the gazette is published, we will pay the salary. But we did not know that such an announcement would be made suddenly.

It may be noted that by announcing a separate wage board for garment workers, a long-standing demand of garment workers has been fulfilled. Now the labor leaders feel that other issues including working environment will be solved on priority basis.

Source: Daily Morning Paper.