Bangladesh: CPD recommends Tk 6,560 as RMG minimum wage for entry level workers for the first year

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Bangladesh: CPD recommends Tk 6,560 as RMG minimum wage for entry level workers for the first year

Proposing to gradually raise the minimum wage for the RMG workers, a study by the Centre For Policy Dialogue (CPD) has recommended that the minimum wage for an entry-level (grade 7) RMG worker be fixed at Tk 6,560, initially in the first year. This amount would be 80 percent of Tk 8,200 – the figure which the CPD study has come up with as an acceptable minimum wage for an RMG worker. The estimate was based on the pattern of workers’ current expenditure.

Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Additional Research Director, CPD conducted the study titled “Revision of the Minimum Wage in the RMG Sector in 2013: Proposals as regards Definition, Method of Determination and the Levels” The study deployed three different methodologies to determine the required level of income for the entry level grade.

The study found Tk 6,445 as the minimum wage that a worker should get to stay just above the poverty line. However, considering an aspirational model diet which would include nutritious food and other essential non-food items, the minimum wage should be Tk 17,800. The recommendations were discussed at a dialogue on “Review of the Minimum Wage for the RMG Sector: Analysis and Proposals” at the CIRDAP auditorium on Tuesday, September 24, 2013. Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Executive Director, CPD chaired and moderated the dialogue.

Md Israfil Alam, MP, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Commitee on Ministry of Labour and Employment; Ambassador Nazrul Islam Khan, Secretary General at Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS); Mr Arshad Jamal, Director, BGMEA; Mr Sirajul Islam Rony, President of Bangladesh Jatiyo Garments Sramik Kormochari League addressed the event, which was attended by trade union leaders, activists, NGOs, members from the civil society and development partners.