The wage board for readymade garment sector (RMG) has finalised the new wage structure, bringing no changes to its earlier recommendation and fixing the minimum wage for entry-level workers at Tk 8,000, officials said.
The board sent its final recommendations to the labour ministry last week, ignoring objections from both garment factory owners and workers.
Earlier, the wage board had recommended Tk 8,000 as the minimum wage and a gazette notification in this regard was published on October 8, inviting suggestions and written objections, if any, within 14 days from the stakeholders.
In response, dozens of rights groups and trade union federations submitted written objections, rejecting the draft recommendations of the wage board.
They also demanded a review of the proposed wage structure, suggesting a hike in the basic pay and fixing the minimum wage at Tk 16,000 and Tk 18,000.
However, Industriall Bangladesh Council, which represents 16 trade unions affiliated with it, had expressed solidarity with workers' representatives proposing the minimum wage at Tk 12,020.
On the other hand, factory owners submitted more than 300 applications to the wage board, demanding downward revision of the proposed wage, a wage board official said.
After scrutinising the objections and recommendations, the board finalised the wage structure at a meeting on October 24 and sent it to the labour ministry the same day, he added.
Contacted, a labour ministry official said that they have received the final proposal last week.
There is hardly any possibility of brining changes to the wage structure as proposed by the board, he said.
The new wages would be effective from December this year, he added.
When asked, Industriall Bangladesh Council secretary general Salauddin Shapon said it was very unfortunate that the board did not take into consideration the objections from trade unions while finalising the wage structure.
"If the board in most cases does not pay attention to the objections and recommendations from the stakeholders, the government should scrap such a provision of seeking opinions from them," he told the FE on Tuesday.
The Industriall Bangladesh Council also expressed solidarity with the proposals made by the workers' representative on the board.
It called for fixing the minimum wage at Tk 12,020, with 65 per cent basic payment and 10 per cent annual increment, he explained.
In the final wage structure, the board recommended Tk 8,000 as the minimum wage for the workers of grade VII.
The new wage included a basic payment of Tk 4,100, which is currently Tk 3,000. It included Tk 2,050 as house rent, up from Tk 1,200.
It raised the medical allowance to Tk 600 from Tk 250 and transport allowance to Tk 350 from Tk 200 and fixed Tk 900 as food subsidies as against Tk 650.
The gross pay for six, five and four grades has been fixed at Tk 8,399, Tk 8,855 and Tk 9,245 with the basic pay of Tk 4,366, Tk 4,670 and Tk 4,930 respectively.
Workers at the three, two and one grades will get Tk 9,578, Tk 14,621 and Tk 17,504 in gross pay respectively, according to the board official.
The basic pay for three, two and one grades has been fixed at Tk 5,152, Tk 8,514 and Tk 10,436 respectively.
A 50 per cent house rent has been proposed for all grades with the same amount of other allowances as suggested for entry-level workers.
The 5.0 per cent annual increment remained unchanged, although the right groups demanded 10 per cent.
An apprentice will get Tk 2,750 as basic pay, Tk 1,375 as house rent, Tk 600 as medical allowance, Tk 350 as transport allowance and Tk 900 as food subsidy, totalling Tk 5,975.
munni_fe@yahoo.com