RMG workers must accept new wage
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“They [instigators] will create a situation in which workers will lose their jobs and will have to return to their villages.
“Are the far-right Jamaat and far-left parties speaking in unison? They speak in the same tone. Have they united against the Awami League?” she said.
On Tuesday, the Minimum Wage Board announced the new minimum wage for RMG workers who have been demanding at least Tk 23,000. The current minimum wage is Tk 8,000.
Hasina said the government increased the salary of government employees only by five percent while RMG factory owners hiked the salary of their workers by 56 percent.
“Whenever the opportunity comes, we arrange necessary benefits and facilities for them [RMG workers],” she said.
Her comments come in the wake of labour unrest over the last few weeks during which three workers were killed. Two of them were shot dead as police opened fire on protesters.
Several hundred factories were shuttered earlier this month amid workers’ demonstrations. The workers returned to the factories following assurances that a decent minimum wage would be ensured.
The workers resumed demonstrations after the wage board announced the new minimum salary on Tuesday.
In 2018, the board fixed a minimum wage of Tk 7,000 against the workers’ demand for Tk 12,000. The PM intervened and asked the board and factory owners to set it at Tk 8,000.
In 2015, the minimum wage was increased to Tk 5,300 from Tk 3,000. The factory owners rejected the pay hike but the PM met them and convinced them to agree to it.
Taslima Akhter, a leader of Mojuri Briddhite Garment Sramik Andolon, a platform of RMG workers’ bodies, said, “We expected a responsible intervention from her like she had done before. We had hoped that the government would step in and review the minimum wage to appease the workers.”
AL POLLS PREPARATION
The ALCWC meeting yesterday formed 14 subcommittees, including an AL election steering committee which Hasina will lead. AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader will act as its member secretary until someone else is selected.
Sources said AL will start selling party nomination forms for Tk 50,000 each after the election schedule is announced. The forms can be bought and submitted online.
The forms used to be Tk 30,000.
Sources said the AL chief asked MPs to start a fully-fledged election campaign. She said their chances of getting party tickets depended on their popularity.
“There is no reason to think that the BNP will not participate in the election. Do not assume that you [MPs] will be able to score a goal in an empty field,” a central committee member quoted her as saying.
She asked her party colleagues to strongly oppose the BNP’s movement.
“The election is close. It [voting] is the democratic and constitutional right of the people. Protecting this right and holding a free, fair, and neutral election is the goal of the government,” she was quoted as saying.
There is no room for arsonists and militants in this country, BSS quoted her saying. “We have to save the people from this unrest and arson terrorism, this is our main task.”
She said vested quarters were conspiring to cripple Bangladesh economically.