Bangladesh’s wage board agrees on December garment pay revision

Bangladesh’s garment wage board agreed on 4 November that revised wages would take effect on 1 December, with the first payment under the new scale due in January. The increase remains undecided: the 30,000 taka monthly minimum sought by protesting workers is a demand, not an adopted rate.

The current monthly minimum is 12,500 taka. Bangladesh announced the earlier wage settlement on 7 November 2023, following a garment workers' strike; it took effect on 1 December 2023.

Protests and pressure on household budgets

Recent unrest forced hundreds of factories to close, CNA said. Workers clashed with police, who used tear gas and sound grenades to disperse demonstrators. Protests took place on 4 November in Mirpur in Dhaka and in Gazipur, an industrial area outside the capital.

Bangladesh has faced a cost-of-living squeeze since 2022, with inflation averaging around 9%. Workers say their pay increases have not kept pace with prices. The garment industry employs more than 4 million people and generates more than 80% of the country’s export earnings.

Shilpi Khatun, a garment worker in Gazipur and her household’s sole breadwinner, said her family survives on puffed rice on the hardest days. Her husband is unemployed, and her parents and in-laws depend on her wages. She said she had not seen a doctor in three years, although her health problems were worsening. She earns 13,500 taka, or about 16,000 taka with overtime, but said the money rarely lasts until payday.

Roksana Parveen, a sewing operator in Ashulia outside Dhaka, said she could not afford better food for her daughters. The family often eats little more than rice and vegetables, and one daughter left school to cut costs.

How the wage will be set

The government formed the six-member board on 1 November after unrest over pay, tasking it with consulting owners, workers and neutral members before recommending a new minimum wage. Worker representative Babul Akhter and owner representative ABM Shamsuddin said both sides agreed to complete the process in December so revised December wages could be paid in January.

Akhter is general secretary of the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation. Shamsuddin is a director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. Manufacturers say a steep increase would squeeze margins already under pressure from energy costs and erode Bangladesh’s cost advantage over India and Vietnam. They also cite a 9% annual increment and two festival bonuses on top of basic wages when arguing that there is limited room for substantial increases.

The board planned another meeting for the week after 4 November, with written proposals expected from workers and owners. It is tasked with preparing a recommendation for the government.