Apparel workers on Friday demanded speedy action over awarding a wage board for them as they alleged dillydally in the wage board process.
At a rally in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka, they also reiterated their demand for a minimum wage of Tk 16,000, payment of all wage arrears and festival allowance equal to basic salary by the 20th day of Ramadan.
Garments Workers Trade Union Centre organised the rally where its president Mantu Ghosh, general secretary Joly Talukder, executive president Kazi Ruhul Amin, central leaders Sadekur Rahman Shamim, Ziaul Kabir Khokon, Iqbal Hossain, KM Mintu, Monzur Moin, Mohammad Shahjahan, Azizul Islam and Ashiana Garment Industries Limited’s trade union president Anisur Rahman Rubel, among others, spoke.
The government on January 14 formed a minimum wage board to review wages of the readymade garment workers.
In 2013 in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza incident, the then minimum wage board set Tk 5,300 as minimum wage with a basic wage of Tk 3,000 for entry-level garment workers.
The workers’ leaders alleged that there was dillydally in the process as only one meeting was held in four months since the announcement of the wage board formation.
‘The delay is intentional’, said trade union leader Mantu Ghosh.
The workers also protested at the closing of Ashiana Garments at Rampura and demanded its reopening, payment of all the workers’ dues and release of factory workers Russell and Munna.