Knitwear makers want 2-yr suspension of raise
Union leaders like the continuation of a good 5 per cent gross annual increment of wages for garment staff even while knitters demand that the government let them suspend it for the next 2 yrs for mitigating the Covid-19 fallout.
Factories cannot bypass this legal necessity and should instead provide additional services to tide employees over through such tough times, the union leaders said.
The increment is a legitimate right of workers, said Nazma Akter, president of workers' rights platform Samilito Garment Sramik Federation in a letter to the labour secretary yesterday.
She said many personnel have grown to be jobless since lots of factories had to turn off production since March 27 last year.
Meanwhile, workers are getting less overtime for a decline found in do the job orders from international retailers and makes and this reduced amount of additional cash flow is making it harder for them to pay the bills, she added.
Akter also demanded a risk allowance for workers, reasoning that it had been for having to do the job during this time period of pandemic.
Mohammad Hatem, senior vice-president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Companies and Exporters Association (BKMEA), explained they sent a letter to the labour ministry the other day seeking the suspension, citing the severe effects on exports.
"We have submitted our demand and the federal government will take your choice as a neutral body, reviewing the export circumstances of the garment sector," Hatem advised The Daily Star above the phone.
He said we were holding extraordinary times and various countries have been accordingly reducing salaries of workers.
"It's the toughest time in the more than 100 years of record. Our orders happen to be fewer and our customers are making unusual delays in payments but concurrently order cancellations have already been occurring in the garment sector," Hatem said.
Many factory owners could not even ship the products they had made in the last seven to eight months. "We are under great pressure. It is normally a temporary measure," he added.
The increment provision was incorporated in the labour legislation through a 2013 amendment. Currently, almost Tk 5,000 crore is disbursed as wage to the garment employees in a month, he said.
However, the government could develop another solution, he explained, adding that the labour secretary hadn't yet asked for having a meeting.
Jafrul Hasan Sharif, a specialist on labour law, said any such suspension would put workers in big trouble in such challenging instances.
The labour ministry doesn't have the jurisdiction to suspend the increment. Only the minimum wage panel for garment workers can perform it, he said.
However, the table has turned defunct since it had already recommended the very least wage that was implemented earlier, he added.
Moreover, once any profit is given, it cannot be taken away or perhaps curtailed under section 336 of the labour law, Sharif said.
Amirul Haque Amin, president of the National Garment Workers Federation, said during this time of Covid-19, workers' income has dropped.
The government, buyers and factory owners should rather provide some additional facilities, for example, rice rations and transportation, he said.
The customers should even tag an extremely small amount of money with the price they purchase garment items for the welfare of workers, he said.
"Instead of acquiring such initiatives, the owners happen to be proposing something illogical, unacceptable, against the law and shameful," Amin told The Daily Star over the phone.
He threatened tough moves if such increment suspension finally happens.
