RMG workers stage demo rejecting Tk 8,000 wage

M Humayun Kabir: Rejecting the government’s decision to raise their minimum monthly wage to Tk 8,000, the workers of ready-made garment factories staged demonstration in Dhaka yesterday.
During the demo, they demanded a minimum monthly wage Tk 16,000 instead of Tk 8,000 for the 4.4 million garment workers.
Several hundred workers led by Garments Sramik Trade Union Kendra staged a sit-in in front of the Jatiya Press Club in the capital at around 11:30am and blocked the road during the demonstration, reports The Daily Star.
Tougher programmes will be taken if the government does not meet their demand soon, the workers’ leaders announced warning.
Later, they brought out a procession chanting various slogans and ended it at Paltan intersection.
Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) President Mujahidul Islam Selim expressed his solidarity with the workers’ demand and said the minimum salary of garment workers should be Tk 21,000 considering the price hike of daily necessities.
It is not acceptable that the gross salary of a sweeper (government employee) is Tk 17,000 while the wage of a skilled garment worker is Tk 8,000, he cited.
Joly Talukdar, general secretary of Garments Sramik Trade Union Kendra said current government is an owner-friendly government.
The government should accept the demand of the over 40 lakh workers rejecting the demand of only 5,500 garment owners, Joly said.
Besides, Garments Sramik Front, Bangladesh Garments Sramik Sanghati and Garments Sramik Adhikar Andolan, a platform of 12 organisations, staged demonstration over the same issue and held separate rallies in front of the Jatiya Press Club at the same time. On Thursday, the government raised the minimum monthly wage for the garment workers by around 51 percent to Tk 8,000 from the existing Tk 5,300 with effect from December.
State minister for labour and employment Md Mujibul Haque Chunnu announced the minimum salary at a press briefing at his secretariat office after the fifth and final meeting of the wage board formed in January.