ILRF for raising real wages of RMG workers

Factory owners say a dollar an hour is too much to pay the people who make our clothes. Photo: ALRF
Factory owners say a dollar an hour is too much to pay the people who make our clothes. Photo: ALRF

The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) has called on the Bangladesh government to increase the minimum wages for readymade garment (RMG) workers to ensure their survival.

The Washington-based no-profit advocacy group has advocated a wage hike of more than 230 per cent to bring the current minimum wage above a poverty line.

The ILRF’s call came less than two week before the ‘Minimum Wage Board’ for garment industry is scheduled to set the new minimum wage on 29 August.

The current minimum wage is Tk 5,300 (US $63) a month and it has not been adjusted since November 2013, despite the cost of living increasing significantly, the ILRF regrets.

Calling the Bangladesh wage one of the lowest wages in the global garment industry, it pointed out that many Bangladeshi garment workers earn less than the 2016 World Bank poverty line wage for the country at Tk 7,418 a month (or US$87).

“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 on 16 August.

It mentioned that workers’ groups are calling for a monthly Tk 16,000 (US $191) minimum wage.

Quoting an Oxfam report, the ILRF said the lifetime earnings of a garment worker in Bangladesh are equivalent to four days of earnings by chief executive officers (CEOs) of leading fashion brands that use countries like Bangladesh as source of apparel products.

The advocacy group referred to the argument of the industry owners that pay-hike would hamper their global competitiveness when there is downward price pressure created by major clothing brands seeking the cheapest possible production price.

“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,” noted the ILRF.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has proposed a wage increase of only Tk 1,060, or about $12 US dollars a month.

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

Referring to Bangladesh labor law, it pointed out, the minimum wage should be increased by 5 per cent every year.

The ILRF mentioned that with the proposed raise, the workers “can barely afford to support themselves, much less their families.”

“The inequity between the acceptable standard of living for garment workers and for their companies’ apparel executives is nothing short of grotesque,” he added.