Ready-made garments (RMG) workers have called off their protests and road blockades at Mirpur’s Kalshi area after assurances from factory owners.
The workers called off their demonstrations on Thursday (Jan 10) morning after the factory owners delegations with the help of police spoke to them.
Pallabi police Inspector Imranul Hassan Prince confirmed that owners have reassured the workers that they will be paid according to the new wage board.
Meanwhile, the workers said that they will go back to work from Saturday (Jan 12).
Prince said that the apparel factory workers took to the streets for the fifth day on Thursday when a delegation of factory owners and assured them of benefits and pay according to the new wage board.
RMG workers in various places have been protesting for the last five days, demanding pay according to the new wage board.
On Tuesday (Jan 8), Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi and State Minister for Labour Munnujan Sufian held a meeting with the garment workers and owners at the Department of Labour.
Apparel workers alleged that the monthly wage in the seventh grade increased to Tk 8,000 from Tk 5,300 as per the latest gazette published by the government last year. But, the salary of the workers in other grades did not increase at the same rate.
The salary hike for the entry-level workers was more than that of their senior operators, who have been working for more than seven to eight years.
The new wage has been effective from Dec 1. Major disparity in the salary hike was noticed in the third and fourth grades as their salaries were not raised like that of entry-level workers.
In most of the grades, other than the seventh, only Tk 500 was raised in the new salary structure, whereas an entry-level worker's salary had increased by Tk 2,700 at one go.
The government however has assured that the issue will be resolved within a month.