The Bangladesh government recently formed the minimum wage board to review wages of the country's readymade garment (RMG) workers. A ministry of labour and employment circular announced appointment of the representatives of the RMG sector owners and workers for the board.

Former Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Mohammad Siddiqur Rahman and Bangladesh National Garment Workers Employees League president Sirajul Islam Rony have been appointed representatives for owners and workers respectively, the circular said.

The wage board has four permanent members, headed by senior district judge Liaquat Ali Molla.
Other permanent members are Bangladesh Employers' Federation representative Moksud Belal Siddiqui, workers' representative and Jatiya Shramik League leader Sultan Ahmed, and independent member and Dhaka University professor Mohammad Kamal Uddin.

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The minimum wage was reviewed last in 2018 and set at Tk 8,000 for an entry-level worker with Tk 4,100 as basic pay, Tk 2,050 as house rent, Tk 600 as medical allowance, Tk 350 as transport allowance, and Tk 900 as food allowance.

There is a demand now for Tk 23,000 as the minimum wage, with 65 per cent basic payment, according to Bangladeshi media reports.

Labour unions are also demanding 65 per cent hike of the basic pay for the 7th grade, the lowest grade in the wage structure of the garment workers, saying the government had announced minimum wages for the RMG workers four times since 2006, but unfortunately basic wages decreased every time in the name of raising allowances.