The wage board for readymade garments workers will be formed in 2018, said labour and employment secretary Mikail Shipar yesterday. “The wage board was formed more than five years ago. The new wage board will be formed as per the directions of the Prime Minister in 2018. For this reason, a new wage board will not be declared before 2019,” he said while addressing a roundtable discussion on ‘Ensuring Sex and Reproductive Healthcare Facilities: Hindrance and Responsibility’. The Daily Prothom Alo organised the event at its office at Karwan Bazar in the city.
The labour secretary said there was nothing about the sex and reproductive health of women workers of the garments factories in the Labour Act. He suggested inclusion of the issue to ensure sex and reproductive healthcare of women workers. He also emphasised the need to build awareness among the workers about the Labour Act.
The labour secretary underscored the need to build up faith among labour workers, owners and the government as well as to ensure good management at the middle level to ensure higher production in the factories. Member of Parliament (MP) Shirin Akhtar, additional secretary of the department of inspection for factories and establishments, Samsijjaman Bhuiyan, project director of the Multi-Sectoral Project on Violence against Women, Abul Hossen, and Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGNMEA) president Siddikur Rahman and others addressed the programme. RMG workers in Ashulia, an industrial hub on the outskirts of the capital, took to the streets last month and enforced a strike for a 16-point charter of demand, including a minimum Tk 15,000 monthly wage. The minimum wage was last raised to Tk 5,300 in November 2013.  As the unrest spread, owners shut 59 apparel factories in the area indefinitely, sacked a large number of workers and filed cases against over a thousand.