We Need 160USD! Bangladeshi Garment Workers Hunger Strike to increase Minimum Wage

The National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) is organizing a token Hunger Strike on 12 October, 2018 by garment workers in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka to demand: reconsideration & increase of the declared minimum wage, basic to be fixed at 70% and not 51%, immediate declaration of the wage for all other grades, annual increment to be fixed at 10% and to increase the wages of other grades proportionately. The President of the federation Mr. Amirul Haque Amin declared this program from the Press Conference held at the auditorium of Dhaka Reporters Unity on 4 October, 2018, in the presence of the other central leaders.

As stated in the press conference, just after the formation of the wage board, the owners of the garment factories arranged to reduce their source tax by the government on raising the issue of the wage increment of the workers. They are also trying to reduce other taxes, VAT, etc. as well as to increase the cash incentive against their export. On the other hand, they are against increasing the wage of the workers and pulling out every trick and malpractice to deprive workers from their legitimate claim for a decent living income. During the press conference, 5 specific demands were raised:

•  The declared wage must be reconsidered and increased

The minimum wage at 16,000BDT was the demand by the garment workers and all the labour federations. In the neighboring countries the minimum wage of the garment workers: China 165 USD, Vietnam 116 USD, Turkey 517 USD, Pakistan 119 USD, Sri Lanka 197 USD. The minimum salary of the government employees is 17,000BDT, of the workers in the government sector 15,000BDT and of the tannery workers 12,800BDT or in the ship breaking industry 16,000BDT. The garment industry, despite being the largest sector of the country and highly profitable, has a declared minimum wage for garment workers at 8,000BDT on 13th September 2018. This is largely insufficient and unacceptable.

• Demand for immediate declaration of the wages of all garment workers, including operators

The declared wage of 8,000BDT is for workers of 7th grade, meaning the helpers, the lowest paid. The helpers make up merely 3% to 5% of the total workers of a garment factory, while the main working force are the operators. But unfortunately, the wage for 95% to 97% workers including different categories of machine operators, has not been declared so far.

• Basic wage not 51%, but 70%.

The garment workers do huge overtime leaving aside their rest & recreation at the pressure of the garment owners & necessity of the industry and even for their own needs since their wage is very low. The wage for the overtime work is determined on the basis of the basic wage that means the double to the basic. The intension is the much the basic could be decreased the more they can deprive the workers. The picture of the basic wage of the previous wage boards:

1. In 1994 the basic was 600 taka against total wage 930 taka where the basic was 65% of the total wage.
2. In 2006 the total wage was fixed at 1,662 taka and the corresponding basic was 1,125 taka and that means the basic was 68% of the total wage.
3. In 2010 the total wage of the garment workers was 3,000 taka and the basic was 2,000 taka yielding the basic 67% of the total wage amount.
4. In 2013 the total wage was 5,300 as against of which the basic was declared for 3,000 taka means the basic was 57% of the total wage.

This year, the total has been fixed at 8,000BDT while the basic has been determined at 4,100BDT, which is only 51% of the total wage. As a result, the overtime wage would be (51% x 2 = 102%), or be only 2% excess of the general wage. Not only the overtime but also Eid bonus, compensation, service benefit, retirement benefits, etc. are determined on the basis of the basic wage. So NWGF demands a basic wage that is 70% of the total wage and not 51%.

• Demand for 10% annual increment.

Every year the price for commodities, house rent, etc. has increased dramatically, with inflation in double digits. The previous wage board however fixed the annual increment of the workers at 5% of the basic wage. This time, the annual increment has not been mentioned in the declared wage structure. We demand for a 10% annual increment.

• Wages for other grades to be increased justified and proportionately

Though the garment workers have been divided into 7 grades basically grade 1 & 2 are various technical hands. Hence the workers of these two grades regularly negotiate their wage through discussions with the owners directly. Basically the workers under from grades 3 to 7 are directly under the control of the wage board. Among these, grade 3 is for highly efficient operators and grade 7 is for the machine helpers. The evolution of the previous wage boards for grades 7 and 3 is as follows:

1. In 1994 the wage for grade 7 was 930BDT while that was for grade 3 was 2,100BDT which is 126% rate of increment.
2. In 2006 the wage for grade 7 was 1,662BDTand that was for grade 3 was 2,449BDT with rate of increment 47%.
3. In 2010 the wage for grade 7 was 3,000BDT and that of grade 3 was for 4,218BDT with the rate of increment 41%.
4. In 2013 the wage for grade 7 was 5,300BDT and that of grade 3 was 6,805BDT, which means a rate of increment of 28%.

This shows that in 1994 the wages of the other grades than the grade of the helpers (grade 7) were increased at logical rates, but later the wages of other grades were increased merely in comparison to the fixing of the wage for grade 7 under pressure. Now, though the wage for grade 7 has been proposed at 8,000BDT, the owners did not submit any proposal for the wages for grades 6, 5, 4 & 3. Hence we are demanding for the proportionate increased wages for other grades apart from grade 7.

On the basis of these five demands, the program for Token Hunger Strike of Garment Workers on 12 October, 2018 in front of National Press Club in Dhaka has been called for. Support their demand by going on social media on the Friday 12th of October and sharing the following messages:

• Garment workers in Bangladesh still don’t earn enough to live on. Support the minimum wage struggle of the garment workers in Bangladesh! #Weneed160
•  Garment workers in Bangladesh can’t live on 80 euro per month. They demand a wage of at least 160 euro. Support their struggle! #Weneed160
•  Garment workers in Bangladesh are organising a hunger strike today to demand a higher minimum wage. Show your solidarity! #Weneed160