The Minimum Wage Board formed for Bangladesh’s cotton textile sector has finalised its recommendations, setting BDT 5,710 as gross monthly pay for the workers.
At present, the minimum wage for the textile sector worker is BDT 3,302, which was set way back in 2011.
A gazette notification was issued on January 24, 2018, in this connection seeking opinions and objections, if any, within 14 days of the notification. It further added that the Wage Board will scrutinise those objections and opinions and submit the recommendations to the Labour and Employment Ministry for finalisation.
The proposal suggested that the minimum monthly wage for the workers of cotton textile mills will be classified into three categories – divisional, district and upazila levels.
The proposal suggested BDT 3,600 as basic wage for all categories of workers, 70 per cent of it as house rent for factories located in divisional cities, 40 per cent as house rent at the district level and 35 per cent at the upazila level.
A medical allowance of BDT 550 for all categories of workers has been suggested while BDT 500, BDT 400 and BDT 300 have been proposed as transport allowances at the divisional, district and upazila levels, respectively.
A worker in the grade 10 living in divisional cities or at the district and upazila levels would get BDT 7,110, BDT 5,990 and BDT 5,710 in monthly wage, according to the draft proposal.
A worker in the Grade 1 would get BDT 11,284, BDT 9,378 and BDT 8,977 with a basic pay of BDT 6,020 at the divisional, district and upazila levels, respectively.
However, both the owners and workers’ representatives to the wage board said that the board made the recommendation ‘unanimously’ while some labour leaders said that the proposed amount was not acceptable.