Amid workers unrest in apparel factories for the last four days, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on Wednesday (Jan 9) has assured to solve all the issues in the Ready-made Garments (RMG) sector within a  month.

“A panel comprising of five representatives from the workers and five from officials of the commerce and labour ministries will address the issues to put an end to the ongoing unrest,” said Tipu Munshi at a media call on Wednesday (Jan 9) at the Secretariat.

“If any worker gets less salary due to the new pay structure, it will be adjusted with the next month's salary,” he added.

Responding to queries, the minister said, “The outsiders may take advantage of the crisis,” before adding, “The government is monitoring the whole situation closely.”

Hundreds of garment workers took to the streets for the fourth successive day on Wednesday to press home their demands including implementation of minimum wage.

Apparel workers allege 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.