Minimum wage for the workers in Bangladesh’s backward linkage of apparel industry, the textiles sector, has been recommended at BDT 5,710.
The board formed to formulate the fresh wage structure for the textile workers has made the recommendation, what has been published as a Government order recently. This is the final recommendation of the wage board formed by the Government.
Under the new wage structure, the textile workers of upazila-level will receive a monthly pay of BDT 5,710. Those working in district headquarters will receive a monthly wage of BDT 5,990, and finally, those in divisional headquarters will get BDT 7,170.
The last review of a minimum wage for textile workers was held back in 2011. Back then, the minimum wage was set at BDT 3,302 with BDT 2,150 as the basic pay, BDT 752 as house rent, medical expense of BDT 300, and travel allowance of BDT 100.
It is pertinent to add here that Bangladesh Government formed the wage board for textile workers back in April, 2017. It was formed with workers’ representative Md Mostafa, vice president of Dhaka Cotton Mills’ Workers Union, and Md Jamal Uddin, former Director of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) and owner of Jamal Uddin Textile Pvt. Ltd., as the factory owners’ representative.
According to data available, nearly 600,000 workers are engaged with the textile sector of Bangladesh, which include those working in the Zamdani, weaving, specialised textile mill, terry towel and home textiles sector.
Mansoor Ahmed, Secretary of BTMA, told Apparel Resources that the new wage structure has been formulated in consultation with the BTMA. “We have no objection with the new wage. But we have identified some anomalies with the designation of the workers, which we have said needs adjustment,” he added.
