While it is encouraging that the government has finally convened a wage board for garment sector workers, it should still be pointed out that such initiatives — ones that serve the interest of the workers — seldom materialise on their own or systemically.Garment workers have been taking to the streets for quite a few days, pressing for a review of their minimum wage which is due by December 2026. Hence, pressing for the formulation of this wage board was quite justified, more so considering the steady rise of living cost that has been eroding the income throughout Bangladesh.Inflation has been hurting the poorer sections harder and hence a demand for Tk 30,000 as minimum wage up from Tk 12,500 might seem steep but perhaps not extremely unreasonable.Thus, an acceptable outcome of the wage board, a recommendation that will be palatable by both the workers and the owners, which has never been an easy task, will be particularly challenging this time considering the downturn of garment exports, rising energy costs, global recession and the internal inflation.Notwithstanding the typical excuse of the garment factory owners that “business is bad”, this time there may be some truth to it — a point that they will very likely exploit. At the same time, garment factory workers’ demand, which may be considered as their initial negotiating position, will likely have room for negotiation but not very much since they have actually seen their real income erode over the last three years, when a new wage structure had been implemented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for the government, it appears to have got off on the wrong foot, responding decisively only after workers began blocking roads and factories were forced to shut down. Reports of growing unrest had been circulating for some time, yet there seemed to be little sense of urgency in addressing the situation. Earlier intervention could well have prevented the closure of dozens of factories, spared commuters in and around Dhaka considerable inconvenience, and averted unnecessary production losses at an already difficult time. The government had announced plans to form a new wage board two weeks earlier, on October 15. There is little justification for delaying the final decision until unrest had escalated to this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government would be particularly pressed to come with a pay hike befitting these difficult times since it has only recently given its own employees a most generous raise, which will surely lead to inflation further.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While it is encouraging that the government has finally convened a wage board for garment sector workers, it should still be pointed out that such initiatives — ones that serve the interest of the workers — seldom materialise on their own or systemically.Garment workers have been taking to the streets for quite a few days, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bangladesh"],"yoast_head":"\n