The monthly minimum wage of garment workers in Bangladesh should be hiked. So says the Bangladesh Garments Workers Unity Council (BGWUC).

The rise in the minimum wage for garment workers is felt to be needed because of the abnormal rise in the cost of living fuelled by the spiralling inflation and house rents. The council has also asked for a 65 per cent rise in the minimum wage based on the basic salary of seventh-grade workers, which was fixed in 2006.The seventh grade is the lowest grade in the wage structure of the country’s garment workers.After 2006, four more wage structures were declared where the basic salary was actually decreased every time in the name of giving other allowances. As a result, says BGWUC, garment workers do not get dues properly when they leave the job or are terminated by the management.

The demand for wage revision comes at a time when the country is about to graduate out of the least developed country (LDC) category. As a LDC, Bangladesh now enjoys duty-free access to the EU, where about 60 per cent of Bangladesh apparel is sent. After the graduation, Bangladesh would no longer be able to avail of duty-free access to the EU.