Garment workers demand minimum wage raised to 32,000 taka

Three years ago, the wage a garment worker's family used to buy the goods and services it needed for the household now buys about 29 per cent less, as the same quantity costs nearly 29 per cent more. Yet the workers' minimum wage has not risen in this period. Inflation, rising house rent, medical costs and children's education expenses have reduced their real income and purchasing power. In this situation, the workers' side has proposed raising the minimum monthly wage of readymade garment workers from 12,500 taka to 32,000 taka. They have also demanded wages ranging from 30,000 to 48,000 taka according to grade.

Amid the long-standing wage movement and labour unrest in the industrial zones, workers' representatives formally submitted the proposal on Monday at the second meeting of the Minimum Wage Board at Segunbagicha in the capital. The owners' side has been given four working days to submit its own proposal. Meanwhile, although production remained normal in most factories in Mirpur, Narayanganj and Gazipur, unrest continued in some factories in Ashulia.

Purchasing power has fallen in three years: in November 2023, the minimum monthly wage of garment workers was raised from 8,000 taka to 12,500 taka. But as the prices of daily necessities, house rent, transport and medical expenses kept rising afterwards, the real value of that wage fell.

According to the consumer price index of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the price index rose by 28.7 per cent from November 2023 to September this year. As a result, the goods and services that 12,500 taka could buy in November 2023 now require about 16,087 taka.

The value of workers' wages has also fallen against the dollar. According to Bangladesh Bank, in November 2023 the taka stood at 110.5 per US dollar, when 12,500 taka was worth about 113 dollars. In October this year the dollar rose to 123.03 taka, so the dollar value of the same wage has fallen to about 101.6 dollars.

On the other hand, because of the depreciation of the taka, exporters are receiving more taka for the same dollar. In November 2023, 100 dollars of export earnings brought 11,050 taka; in October this year it rose to 12,303 taka.

Struggling to meet family expenses: workers say it has become difficult to meet the costs of food, housing, medical care and children's education on the current wage. Workers' representative Babul Akhtar said a family of four needs 45,000 to 60,000 taka a month.

According to a BBS survey published last month, the average monthly expenditure of a family in city corporation areas is 46,778 taka. In urban areas it is 37,344 taka and in rural areas 32,532 taka.

Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, executive director of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), said the garment workers' wage fixed three years ago was not acceptable. This time, the new structure should not be fixed on the basis of that wage.

He said workers cannot run their households paying house rent on the current wage, and many families' children's education is being disrupted. The wage should be fixed considering that a family can live comfortably.

From 30,000 to 48,000 taka by grade: workers' long-standing demand was to make the minimum wage 30,000 taka. This time, workers' representatives have proposed a minimum wage of 32,000 taka to the Wage Board. According to the proposal, the monthly wage of grade-1 workers has been put at 48,000 taka.

The owners' side will submit its proposal within four working days. After that, the Wage Board's further discussions will move toward a decision on the new wage structure based on the proposals of the workers' and owners' sides.