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RMG workers demand new wage structure
Reported by: UNB Connect
Reported on: Jun 25, 2012 06:36 pm
Reported in: National

Dhaka, June 25 (UNB) – Garment workers organisations on Monday demanded the formation of a new wage board to raise their wages and announce 50 percent dearness allowance.They put forward their five-point demand through a letter submitted to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA).Their demands also include the introduction of full rationing and the formation of trade unions in all factories.Advocate Mahbubur Rahman Ismail, president of Bangladesh Textile-Garments Workers' Association, told UNB that the workers’ leaders have communicated their demands in writing to the owners’ association as per the Chapter XIV of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006.“In order to abide by the law, the owners will have to discuss the demands with workers and have to resolve the disputes in 21 days from the submission,” he added.Rafiqul Islam Pathik, president of Sammilito Garment Sramik Federation, said only the increase of wages by forming a wage board can quell the workers unrest.The real income of the workers have shrunk due to rise in the prices of essentials, house rents and other expenditures since the last wage board award was declared in 2010, he added.“In our letter we’ve calculated the current living cost of a worker in minute detail. We demanded the increase minimum basic wage from Tk 3,000 to Tk 7,000,” he said.Leaders of Garment Sramik Mukti Andolon, Jago Bangladesh Garment Sramik Federation, Bangladesh Garment Sramik Sanghati and many other organisations were present during the submission of the copies of the letter to the BGMEA and the BKMEA.BGMEA general secretary Ehsanul Fattah and BKMEA president AKM Selim Osman, on behalf of their respective associations, received the copies of the letter at 11:00am and 4:00pm on Monday.

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