Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The Bangladesh government has announced the minimum wages structure for apparel workers, fixing BDT 3,000 as minimum pay for grade-7 workers.

The new wage structure will come into effect from November 1 this year.

The minimum wages for readymade garment (RMG) workers has been fixed at Tk 2,500, said Labour Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain at a press conference at his secretariat office in the capital, Dhaka on Thursday. 

The minister also announced the minimum wages along with six more pay scales for the garment workers.

Apart from the minimum wages, the workers will get all other benefits stipulated under the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006, the minister added. 

The minimum wages was fixed at BDT 627 in 1985 and nine years later in 1994 it was enhanced to BDT 930 and 12 years later in 2006 it was again revised to BDT 1,662.5. 

The Minimum Wages Board, formed in April, recommended BDT 3,000 on Wednesday as minimum salary despite opposition from factory owners.

The owners wanted to fix the minimum wages at BDT 2,560 a month. The entry level workers constitute around 20 percent of the sector's around three million workers. 

The country's garments industry fetched around US$12 billion in 2009-10, accounting for nearly 80 percent of Bangladesh's total exports.

 

BBN/SS/SI/AD-30July10-10:23 am (BST)