Bangladesh: Asia Floor Wage Alliance statement supports worker & union calls for minimum wage increase
"Statement: Trade Unions of the RMG Sector Demand a Minimum Wage Hike!", April 2023
Bangladesh conducted its last minimum wage negotiations in 2018.
At the time, a meager BDT 8,000 (USD95) was fixed as the minimum wage for garment workers. Over the past five years, Bangladeshi garment workers have continued to receive these poverty-level wages, all the while suffering through the skyrocketing cost of living and the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asia Floor Wage Alliance - Bangladesh is supporting the demand of trade unions to increase the minimum wage from BDT 8,000 to within the range of BDT 22,000 – BDT 24,000 (USD 207 – USD 226). We strongly support the trade unions’ demand for this minimum wage increase as it is an important step towards ensuring that garment workers and their families have the basic resources to survive and endure crises, including the impending economic recession...
Just as we, garment workers and labor unions in Bangladesh, mobilized during previous wage negotiations in 2013 and 2018, we will mobilize again to ensure the government accepts our reasonable demands.
Insufficient wages harm a worker’s well-being and ultimately the entire family’s well- being. AFWA Bangladesh supports garment workers and their unions in their demand for
- An increase in the minimum wages to BDT 22,000–BDT 24,000; and
- An annual negotiation process to update the minimum wage in line with rising inflation rates.
We call on unions and workers to fight for our right to fair wages and better working conditions.