Washington-based advocacy group asks for 230 % hike in B’desh workers’ wage

At a time when Bangladesh’s wage board is working towards fixing the minimum wage for the workers involved in the apparel manufacturing sector, a Washington-based no-profit advocacy group, the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), has reportedly called upon the Bangladesh Government to increase the minimum wage and has advocated a wage hike of around 230 per cent for the workers.

“To rise above that poverty line, the current minimum wage would need to increase by more than 230 per cent,” ILRF said in an article titled ‘Poverty Wages No More: Time for a Real Wage Increase in Bangladesh!’ published in its blog recently, further adding, “It’s true that it is critical that international brands step up and pay rates that allow factory owners to pay workers a living wage. Their failure to act, however, doesn’t release the Bangladesh Government from its obligation to raise the minimum wage to a level where workers can survive.”

The group was also critical of the proposed minimum wage put forth by the country’s apex garment manufacturers’ body, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

“The raise proposed by the BGMEA doesn’t even keep up with the price inflation and even fails to fulfil the basic legal obligations of employers,” the ILRF reportedly underlined.

It may be mentioned here that various workers’ bodies and rights groups in the country has decried the proposed minimum wage put forth by the stakeholders and demanded that minimum wage be fixed at BDT 16,000.