Garment workers seeking a Tk30,000 monthly minimum disrupted operations in the industrial areas covered by BGMEA’s report on Nov. 1, while BSS reported that the government appointed a wage board to set new pay terms.
BGMEA’s Nov. 1 situation report tallied 529 factories with interrupted operations across the industrial areas it covered. It also counted 987,190 workers who left their workplaces without working that day, The Business Standard reported.
The Daily Star reported that a police vehicle was set on fire during clashes in Mirpur-11, Dhaka. Prothom Alo reported that a pickup van and a warehouse storing garment-factory waste fabric were set on fire in Gazipur’s Kaliakair area.
Reports gave different counts of detentions in Mirpur. The Daily Star reported 19 people detained, bdnews24.com reported 28, and Prothom Alo reported 29 arrests; the reports did not reconcile the figures.
The official gazette set the garment-sector entry-level minimum at Tk12,500 per month from Dec. 1, 2023, making the workers’ demand more than twice the current rate. BGMEA reports roughly 4,000 registered garment factories and lists apparel exports at $38.7 billion for FY2025-26, 1.64% below the previous fiscal year. The Business Standard reported that wage-board reviews follow a three-year cycle through December 2026, and that workers’ representatives had sought a new panel before then. Its account traces the first wage board to 1984 and counts the latest one as the eighth.
Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association President Mohammad Hatem told The Business Standard that manufacturers might suspend operations if workers did not return. The newspaper said workers could go without pay during a qualifying suspension under Section 13(1), describing that as a possible consequence.
BSS reported that two notifications from the Ministry of Labour and Employment appointed six board members. Senior District and Sessions Judge Sheikh Ashfaqur Rahman chairs the panel, which includes employer, worker and neutral representatives. Labour and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury urged workers to return and said the board would meet as soon as possible, BSS reported.
