The latest protest by the country's ready-made garment (RMG) workers over the revised wage structure reflects a flawed revision in the name of wage hike. The flaws in the wage structure are recognised by the government and it has decided to examine the revised structure through a tri-party committee for enhancing wages -albeit slightly.
It is unfortunate to see that RMG industry leaders have been continuously denying the legitimate demand of the workers to adjust their wage compatibly. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association(BGMEA) frenetically lobbied with the government for not enhancing minimum wages of the workers in real terms. As a result, the government finalised the revised wage structure which even failed to adjust annual inflation adequately.
Finalising a new wage structure in line with the BGMEA' s willingness sparked the protests and agitations in the street. Workers absenteeism also forced many factories to defer shipments. The factory owners are at the risk of counting some undue losses. A number of factories were also vandalised. Workers in protest also faced intimidation from law enforcers. In the final count a worker's life was lost, scores were injured and at least a thousand lost their jobs due to taking part in the protest and agitation.
Thus the cost of flawed revision of wage structure is manifold. Though the flaws were earlier identified by the trade unions, economists and right activists, the leaders of the BGMEA denied this. Instead they advanced the same old but misguided logic of cost escalation of factories. To adjust the so-_called cost hike, the government drastically cut down the RMG exporters' source tax rate to 0.25 per cent and forgone a good amount of tax revenue.
In fact, setting or revising the wage structure in RMG sector is never hassle-free. Without street movements and agitations, neither the government nor employers pay heed to the demand. Again, RMG industry leaders under the umbrella of BGMEA always put every effort not to hike wages adequately. Thanks to their strong lobbying and consistent pressure, the government generally favour the factory owners at the expense of workers and tax payers.
What is also clear from the latest incident of protest and termination of RMG workers is that the government has a number of shortcomings to ensure a decent wage structure for workers.
Against this backdrop, the government may seriously think of introduction of a social insurance scheme for the RMG workers. It requires some monetary contribution from government, employers and workers. The government needs to make the major contribution and workers' portion will be small or just token. Employers or factory owners have to contribute a reasonable sum. They are paying good amount of premium to insure their factories and shipments. So, contribution to workers' social insurance should not be a burden on them. Rather, this kind of contribution will help strength their bargaining capacity with global brands.
Generally, social insurance is considered a device to safeguard any person against falling to the depths of poverty and misery and to assist him in times of emergencies. Under the social insurance scheme, he or she will receive compensation against loss, resulting from particular emergencies. The core idea of the scheme is to eliminate the risk of the individual who is already vulnerable.
By bringing the RMG workers under the umbrella of the social insurance, the scope of agitation, job loss and factory loss can be minimised. A provision for this may be there in the national budget for the next fiscal year 2019-20 (FY20).
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