Bangladesh’s textile industry minimum wage board on Tuesday increased the basic monthly salary of the sector’s four million workers by 56.25% to 12,500 taka (104 euros), but the amount was immediately rejected by unions.
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“The new monthly minimum wage for garment factory workers has been set at 12,500 taka. It will come into force from December,” Raisha Afroz, secretary of the government-appointed minimum wage committee, told AFP.
This amount was immediately deemed inadequate by the Bangladesh Industrial and Garment Workers’ Federation (BGIWF).
“This is unacceptable. “This is below our expectations,” protested AFP Kalpona Akter, president of BGIWF, who believes that the minimum wage should be increased to at least 15,000 takas.
Following the announcement, hundreds of garment workers gathered near the Ministry of Labor in the center of the capital Dhaka.
“We make fun of the workers. “It is obvious that the government and the owners only had their own interests in mind and ignored the cost of living of the workers,” Taslima Akter, a union leader, criticized at the rally.
“An injustice”
The textile workers, who have been demonstrating for two weeks, are demanding a nearly tripling of the monthly minimum wage, which is currently 8,300 taka (70 euros) and should be increased to 23,000 taka (190 euros).
“I reject this new monthly minimum wage. This is an injustice for us,” Sajal Mia, 21, a worker in the industry, told AFP. “The authorities have not taken the market situation into account,” he continued, “they only care about their own interests.”
Earlier on Tuesday there was violence in Gazipur, north of Dhaka. According to police, around 6,000 workers demonstrated and set a bus on fire while waiting for the outcome of negotiations on this minimum wage increase.
“They set a bus on fire. We fired tear gas to disperse them,” Gazipur police unit chief Sarwar Alam told AFP.
Police said around 600 garment factories were closed and dozens were vandalized last week, sparking the worst wage protests in the country’s main industrial areas in the last decade.
Four factories were burned down and streets were blocked by thousands of protesters. At least two workers died in the violence.
10% inflation
Textiles are a key industry in Bangladesh, the world’s second-largest clothing exporter after China.
Its roughly 3,500 garment factories, employing four million workers, mostly women, produce 85% of Bangladesh’s $55 billion in annual exports.
They supply Western brands and distributors including Gap, Hugo Boss, Adidas, H&M and the Inditex group, which includes Zara, Puma and Levi’s.
These big names did not immediately comment, but last month some of them wrote to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wishing “a happy conclusion” to the salary negotiations.
“Consultations should aim to increase the minimum wage to a level consistent with a level of wages and benefits sufficient to cover workers’ basic needs and a portion of discretionary income,” they added.
Unions say workers are suffering greatly from inflation, which reached almost 10% in October, and the depreciation of the taka against the US dollar by around 30% since the start of last year.
The state-appointed minimum wage committee includes representatives from manufacturers, unions and wage experts. It typically meets every five years to increase the industry’s base salary.
The last increase in this remuneration was in December 2018. Subsequently, it increased from 5,000 to 8,000 taka per month. In addition, a garment worker will receive at least 300 taka as attendance bonus.
The demonstrations by garment workers coincided with opposition parties calling for Hasina’s resignation ahead of elections scheduled for January.