Minimum wage and movement

The government has declared a minimum wage of Tk 12500, which is a discussion point for all political parties as well as foreign agencies in recent days. The minimum wage is considered according to the Labor Act 2006 of Bangladesh, and it has been revised several times (six times). In Bangladesh, readymade garment (RMG) is a significant industrial sector for remittance and socio-economic development – especially as it brings a gradual change in remote illiterate women to empower them. Besides, its contribution to GDP is remarkable.

But it has become a political hub also. Many labour organisations are working here. These organisations are politically motivated by different political parties and enhance their motives by the name of labour support.  Most of the leaders of these organisations are directly working with political parties. For these underlying causes, RMG movement takes place very easily.

The minimum wage is defined by the government-formed Minimum Wage Board as per the Labour Act 2006 section 138-149 where a labour representative and an owner representative present with the respective government bodies to ensure the labor rights and to consider the owner's capacity. Although the Board consists of all the parties, most of the time labour movement occurs on the issues of revising the minimum wage. As per the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006, the minimum wage board will revise the minimum wage every five years, but by the influence of the political party’s labor start movement without any consultation with owners or owners’ association or without any direction of the Minimum Wage Board due to political intervention.

The chronological price rise of essential commodities is a burning problem for laborer as well as others feeling frustrated about their daily expenses. Here, it’s easy to influence the workers because they are illiterate, unaware, and young workforce, working in a small place. So, the perpetrators easily gesture their motive to divert the labor against their productive activity.

However, In 1994  the minimum wage was first revised and 2nd revision was in 2006 after the established Labor Act 2006, and anthers revision was in 2010 as per the Labor Act 2006 every five years the minimum wage is revised but due to the Rana Plaza Collapse in 2013 minimum wage was revised and in 2016 some political labor leaders influenced labor for price hike movement, at that time the reputation of RMG sector was destroyed nationally and internationally and the economic lose was about$ 50 million production. However, it’s a simple process to revise the minimum wage but at every revision, there will be movement, policing, pickpocketing, case filing, and even labor death. Here the responsible factors are political perpetrators and the negligence of dispute settlement agencies in the RMG sector. The political interventions in the dispute settlement system corrupt most of the time. 

This year the minimum wage movement continued for 13th days, though the government declared the minimum wage 2023 an increase of 56% finalized by the Minimum Wage Board for the readymade garments sector on 7th November 2023. However, some trade union leaders who worked as political perpetrators influence the labor to continue the price hike movement. Some workers try to join their work but many of them are motivated by the political perpetrators to continue the movement. This political situation before the national elections also caught the sight of the buyers and investment agencies in the RMG sector. Which will affect the prosperity of the RMG sector in Bangladesh. Although this is a very common scenario in Bangladesh by these types of movements general laborers do not benefit. Most of the time the political parties hire the corrupted labor leaders who are working as settlement agencies.

However, some autocratic politically motivated owners are also denied providing the new wage to the laborers and that also motivated the workers to continue the movement.
Due to privatizations, there is an autocratic political environment in the RMG sector, in many industries the owner implements their role and regulations. They do not follow government laws and policies even though they are not compliance factories. The workers of these factories come to the road and motivate other laborers to join them.  

However, when the perpetrators start destroying activities the owner shuts down their industries for an indefinite time. That also motivated workers to move. Because workers are paid daily, if the industries are off their salaries are to be also off, and when the owner reopens the industries, the labor will face a huge workload. That also demotivated workers to continue their jobs. In this political triangle, workers face vulnerabilities, they become motivated to move without considering their gain. Finally, the labour became victims of case files, termination, injuries, and sometimes death, after all, deprived of salaries. And the political parties are fishing in the shallow waters of the RMG movement. Ultimately the RMG labourers are deprived.

However, there is also a blame game method in the RMG movement and political interventions. The government, government anti-parties and labor welfare agencies blame each other when a crisis arises. The anti-government political parties benefit from the negligence of owners, owners’ associations and as well as government agencies like DIEF, MoL and other relevant government bodies. They interpret information to gain political purpose. It’s much easier to use RMG labor than in any other sector.  In a factory, a huge number of laborers work and at a time, they come to the road following a perpetrator whistleblower and start vandalism, pickpocketing, and moving. That badly affects the production of the RMG sector as well as the national economy. 

However, political intervention is necessary to ensure labor rights and labor democracy. Political intervention can help for a sustainable productive work environment in the RMG sector. The trade union and trade union leaders are key representatives for secure labor rights. As per the Labor Act 2006 section 176 -183 the trade union or labor associations are established, and leaders of labor associations are elected from the labor. But sometimes these trade unions and labor associations misuse their power and work as perpetrators.

The labourers should keep in mind that they have a responsibility towards their company. They obviously do their movement to secure their rights, but they must be polite and accountable to their owners. They should not join any criminal activities like arson, vandalism, or pickpocketing. Although the government of Bangladesh has already revised and declared the minimum wage as per the Labour Act 2006, the movement still continued, and 150 RMG industries remain shut. At this time, global economic recessions will bring a massive economic loss for the RMG sector as well as the total economy of Bangladesh. All the political parties should consider economic loss and also the labour perspective. The owner, the government and the labourers – altogether are expected to work in cohesion to build a sustainable environment in RMG sector.

The writer is a PhD student, Department of Criminology, University of Dhaka