20 per cent RMG factories do not pay Tk 1,662.50 a worker: survey
Courtesy New Age 30/6/08
Tanim Ahmed
About a fifth of all the garment and textile factories still do not pay the minimum monthly wage of Tk 1,662.50 (less than $25) decided by the minimum wage board in 2006.
According to a survey of 500 factories by Karmojibi Nari, a women and labour rights organisation, almost half the factories still do not pay wages in time, while workers of a third of the factories have to wait until shipments or the second week of the month for their wage and overtime bills.
The findings of this study were presented at a meet of the MFA Forum—an international platform of manufacturers, buyers, government, international and national non-governmental organisations—on Sunday in
The survey geared to assess the current status of implementation of the tripartite agreement signed between the government, factory owners and labours after widespread protests in May 2006 that stipulated a minimum wage to be decided by a commission, timely payment of wages and overtime, maternity benefits, appointment letters and identity cards.
The agreement also stipulated that workers would not be prevented from their right to association.
But all the workers of 500 factories surveyed said that their employers opposed trade union activities and unionisation of the workers.
At least half the workers said their factory management discriminated against women in general and about a third were of the opinion that women in general were paid less than their male counterparts.
It was also found that in many cases male workers were paid their monthly wages and overtime before the females.
Although one of the simpler provisions of the tripartite agreement, only about half the factories issued appointment letters while a third still did not provide their workers with identity cards.
Holidays and leaves have marked significant improvement with 85 per cent factories granting weekly holidays and 90 per cent granting festival holidays. However, it still means that workers at hundreds of factories do not get any weekly leave and are made work during the festivals.
Despite the general trend of improvement from previous standards, about two-thirds of all the garment workers surveyed said they were subjected to either mental or physical torture at the factories.
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