Wage Board's First Meeting Moved Forward Four Hours, Police on Alert in Mirpur and Uttara

The first meeting of the wage board formed to set a new minimum wage for garment workers began on Wednesday (4 November) at 11am, moved forward by four hours. The meeting had been scheduled for 3pm. Md Shariful Islam, public relations officer of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, said the meeting started at 11:05am.

The decision to bring the meeting forward was announced in a revised meeting notice from the Ministry of Labour and Employment, amid workers' continuous movement, clashes in various industrial areas and a deterioration in the law and order situation.

The revised notice, signed by the wage board's secretary, said that under Section 139 of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006, the board's first meeting to recommend minimum wage rates for all classes of workers and employees in the garment industry would be held on 4 November at 11am. The meeting was to be chaired by the board's chairman, senior district and sessions judge Sheikh Ashfaqur Rahman.

The agenda for today's meeting includes introductions of the members, formulation of recommendations for setting the minimum wage for garment workers and employees, and miscellaneous matters.

The government had earlier formed the wage board to set a new minimum wage for garment workers. A gazette was published on Sunday (1 November), when the Ministry of Labour and Employment issued two separate notifications, forming the board under powers given in subsections of Section 138 of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 (amended 2026).

The board's neutral member is Professor Dr Mosleh Uddin Ahmad of Dhaka University's Department of Public Administration. The owners' representatives are Asif Ayub, joint secretary general of the Bangladesh Employers' Federation, and ABM Shamsuddin, a BGMEA director. The workers' representatives are Anwar Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, and Babul Akhtar, general secretary of the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation.

Labour and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury had announced the formation of a new wage board to raise garment workers' pay at the Secretariat last Saturday.

Workers' current minimum monthly wage is Tk 12,500. Citing inflation, house rent and rising prices of essentials, workers are demanding that it be raised to Tk 30,000. They fear the wage board's recommendation may not raise the wage at the expected rate.

Worker representatives expect the new wage structure can be finalised by December and that workers will receive the new wage from January. As a result, expectations have built up among workers around today's first meeting.

Meanwhile, law enforcement has been on alert in Dhaka's Mirpur area since Wednesday morning over the garment workers' movement, with additional police deployed. In Pallabi, police are moving away workers gathered in front of various garment factories. In the morning, when workers gathered in front of several factories in the lane by the Purabi cinema hall in Mirpur 11, police moved them away; tension arose at the time, but no untoward incident occurred.

Mirpur Model police station officer-in-charge Md Hafizur Rahman said seven of the eight garment factories in his station area were running. Workers at one factory had stopped work, but after being persuaded they too started work on Wednesday morning. Additional police have nevertheless been deployed since the morning and they remain alert.

Police are also on alert in Uttara. To avoid an unwanted situation, police members are positioned from Rajlaxmi to the Airport area in Uttara, with water cannon and prison vans also kept ready.

Earlier, on 1 November, garment workers blocked roads and demonstrated in Mirpur demanding a minimum wage of Tk 30,000. That day there were repeated clashes and chases between police and workers, and a police vehicle was set on fire below the Mirpur-11 metro rail station; police detained several people from various parts of Mirpur on suspicion of involvement. Workers also demonstrated in Mirpur on Monday and Tuesday, and protests over the same demand are continuing in Gazipur, Savar, Ashulia and Narayanganj.