RMG violence sewn with wage confusion

Workers of Chittagong Export Processing Zone are in a face-off with police over pay under the new wage structure at the zone's gate in the port city yesterday. Photo: ANURUP KANTI DAS

Mohammad Abdullah, managing director of garment giant Nassa Group, said he paid the new minimum wages to his workers, but they protested anyway, forcing him to shutter his factories.
His comment came hours after agitated workers sacked a string of garment factories in Dhaka, Gazipur, Narayanganj and Chittagong to press their demands for higher pay.
"We have paid the workers according to the new pay scale," he said. "But there is a misunderstanding about the grading system in the pay structure among the workers."
The senior workers' salary did not increase at the ratio as that of junior workers. As a result, the workers took to the streets, he said.
A senior sewing operator of Kimia Apparels Ltd, a unit of Nassa Group in the city's Joar Shahara area, believes the seniors' salaries did not increase proportionately with those of junior workers as much as mandated, or at least as much as is tolerable.
"I am a senior sewing operator and I received Tk 3,399, whereas a junior worker received Tk 3,200, and a helper at the entry level received Tk 3,000. The gap between the senior and junior workers' salary is very low," the operator said, requesting anonymity.
"I was supposed to receive Tk 4,200 in monthly salary without overtime, but I received Tk 3,399."
Abdullah said the factory would reopen tomorrow. "We held a discussion with the workers to bring back normalcy in the factory. We will give the decisions to the workers within next seven days," he said.
His worker confirmed the truce, but thought management had caved. "We will join work from tomorrow (today) because the management agreed to pay as per the new pay structure from the next month," the operator said.
Not all are able to reopen so quickly. Shakhawat Hossain, managing director of Robintex Ltd, said he closed the factory for an indefinite period following the unrest. He said his factory was so badly damaged that it needs rebuilding.
And the confusion may not be cleared up. The workers want their monthly salary under the November 1 minimum wage rates to be boosted to reflect the same percentage of increase as those of the lower-paid workers.
But the government gave the junior workers a larger hike. The salary for the third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades was increased by 68 percent, 67 percent, 69 percent and 77 percent, respectively, compared with 80 percent in the seventh grade. The minimum salary was increased by 81 percent and 82 percent in first and second grades.
"This is the main reason for massive unrest," said Amirul Haque Amin, head of the National Garment Workers' Federation. Labour leaders say they urged the garment owners to raise the seniors more.
Hossain also claims he paid the workers according to the new pay structure, but the salary gap was the reason for the sack of the factory. He said the workers went "berserk" when they did not receive the salary they expected.
"I will only take a decision on reopening the factory after a discussion with labour leaders, local lawmakers, law-enforcing agencies and garment manufacturers' association leaders," he said.
Amin said the management of some factories paid seniors more than the mimimum, buying labour peace. But he blames managers for not clarifying the grades.
"The workers are also not aware who is belonging to which grades," he complained. "However, we are contacting the workers and other stakeholders to hold talks about the issue," he said.
A senior official of the Youngone Group said the workers took to the streets, demanding reinstatement of a "temporary" Tk 250 allowance for food inflation that management stopped giving out when it began paying the new minimum wage.
Abdu Salam Murshedy, president of the Bangladesh Association of Garment Manufacturers and Exporters (BGMEA), said the salary of junior workers increasing more than that of senior workers "might be the cause for unrest". But he blamed slack law enforcement for the unrest.
"We demanded security from the government for the safety of our industries," said Murshedy.
Mohammad Hatem, acting president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), said the salary gap between senior and junior workers is the main reason for the unrest.
"We can do little, as it is the guideline approved by the government," Hatem said.
He said the BKMEA has held meetings with the owners about the payment of the new pay structure. "We directed the owners saying that in no case will you reduce the basic salary," he said.