Six-member wage board announced, labour minister urges garment workers to return to factories
Photo: Collected
Labour and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury has urged garment workers to leave the streets and return to their factories, saying their demand for a board to set the minimum wage has been met.
The minister made the call at the labour ministry at the Secretariat today after announcing a six-member wage board to set new pay for garment workers. The board is headed by Senior District and Sessions Judge Sheikh Ashfaqur Rahman.
The labour minister alleged that a quarter had brought workers onto the streets even after the formation of the wage board was announced. He said there may be outside instigation behind workers taking to the streets, and that it is linked to attempts to create instability around December.
The minister said the government has formed the six-member minimum wage board in line with the labour law, and the board starts work from today. The board will meet as soon as possible and, after discussions there, a decision on the workers’ minimum wage will be announced.
The board members are Professor Dr Mosleh Uddin Ahmed of the Department of Public Administration at Dhaka University; Bangladesh Employers’ Federation joint secretary general Asif Ayub, representing owners; Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal central committee president Anwar Hossain, representing workers; BGMEA director ABM Shamsuddin; and Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Sramik Federation general secretary Babul Akhter.
Asking workers to return to work, the minister said the announced board will declare the new wage as soon as possible.
Earlier, on Saturday, a meeting was held on the matter with representatives of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) at Shram Bhaban in the capital’s Bijoynagar.
On the demands raised by labour leaders, the minister said, ‘We certainly have something to do about the points they have raised. We will work on everything they have said on the basis of discussions with them. Just as we have to protect industries, we also have to secure the workers’ fair demands.’
By the numbers
According to a 19 September report in Bangla Tribune, garment workers’ minimum wage was last set in November 2023, at Tk 12,500. After the labour law was amended, the period for revising wages is now three years, down from five years previously.
At a glance
In a 26 October report by bdnews24.com, minimum wage board member secretary Raisa Afroz said that under section 138 of the labour law, the board’s permanent structure consists of a chairman, a neutral member, an owners’ representative and a workers’ representative; for meetings on a specific sector such as readymade garments, one owner and one worker representative from that sector are added.
Sources
Original report: BSS
Background sources: Bangla Tribune, 19 September 2026; bdnews24.com, 26 October 2026
