Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) has proposed Tk 9,228 or US$110 as the minimum monthly wage for an entry-level worker of the country’s readymade garment sector.
The CPD also proposed abolishing the seventh grade and promote workers to grade six attributing the rise in skills and technology.
“…the proposed minimum wage for newly introduced grade six is Tk 10,028. In case of workers with no children, the wage for grade six workers would be Tk 9,228,” Khondaker Golam Moazzem research director at CPD said.
He was speaking at a dialogue on ‘Minimum Wages and Livelihood Conditions of RMG Workers’ held at BRAC Centre Inn Auditorium in the capital on Sunday.
Mr Moazzem in his study ‘Addressing the Livelihood Challenges of RMG Workers: Exploring Scope within the Structure of Minimum Wages and Beyond’ showed that total food and non-food costs of a family of four are Tk 22,435.
With two earning members in the family and a 3.0 per cent savings on basic, the minimum wage for newly proposed grade six workers should be Tk 11,004, he said.
But CPD recommended Tk 10,028 or $119 as minimum monthly wage for entry-level garment workers at newly proposed grade six taking into account fall in profit margin of enterprises and possible future business risks, including trade war, rise in petroleum price and gas price.
State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque was present as the chief guest at the workshop chaired by CPD Chairman Professor Rehman Sobhan.
CPD’s distinguished fellow Professor Mustafizur Rahman moderated the discussion, also attended by BGMEA president Md Siddiqur Rahman and representatives from different trade unions.
