Deprived of nutrition and healthcare

Garment workers are fighting a desperate battle to keep up with price hikes and inflation. Price of every essential is skyrocketing, but the workers wages have not increased a penny, said speakers at a conference.

Although Bangladesh's per monthly capita income is Tk 21,000, and it is increasing every year, RMG workers are not getting any benefit from this, they said.

They mentioned that the workers' nutritional balance, access to quality healthcare, ability to purchase daily essentials and overall living standard is decreasing day by day.

Considering the current economic condition, the government must fix the national minimum wage for the workers, and it must not be less than Tk 25,000 per month.

We can only afford small fries and cheap vegetables for our lunch and dinner. Our daily meal is a curry in which we mix small fish and vegetables together to save oil, salt and spices, which are very expensive nowadays.

— Afsana, garment worker

Speakers made these remarks at the conference titled "Questions on price hike, life of workers and their wages", organised by Bangladesh Garment Sramik Samhati at Dhaka Reporters Unity.

Garment workers, labour leaders, researchers and economists spoke at the event and presented how the workers are struggling to survive amid economic crisis.

Salima, an RMG worker, said, "My husband and I work at a garment factory in Savar and live near the factory. Earlier, we used to buy rui fish or chicken twice or thrice a month. We couldn't buy them for the last two months."

"We can only afford some low-priced vegetables and small fish. Earlier, we used to buy chocolates and biscuits for our only daughter every weekend. We had to stop buying these items completely to save money for essentials," she said.

Afsana, another garment worker, said, "We can only afford small fries and cheap vegetables for our lunch and dinner. Our daily meal is a curry in which we mix small fish and vegetables together to save oil, salt and spices, which are very expensive nowadays."

"Egg and milk are beyond our reach. Sometimes, we cook pulses, but we can't buy more than one kilo of pulses in a month," she said.

Experts presented statistics, which showed that such compromises to survive the inflation have seriously impacted the living standard of the workers.

Eminent academician and activist Prof Anu Muhammad said, "Even a couple of years ago, daily food intake of a garment worker was around 3,000 kilocalories per day. Now, that has reduced to less than 2,000. They have stopped taking essential proteins and vitamins due to the excessive price hikes and low wages."

Public health researcher Dr Taufique Joarder from Brac Institute of Governance and Development said, "Sixty-seven percent of workers suffer from body aches, which is a huge concern for our public health. They do not have any access to quality healthcare for their sufferings."

"They cannot access government health facilities either, as such arrangements are rare in industrial areas. They have to rely on nearby medical stores and quack doctors for their treatment," he said.

Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director at Centre for Policy Dialogue, said, "The government has reduced allocation for OMS in this budget. Garment workers could not benefit from TCB trucks, as the vehicles did not operate in the evening and night."

"The government should launch TCB sales in industrialised areas, and the schedule should be fixed in accordance with the free time of the workers," he said.

At the concluding session of the conference, the speakers and worker participants demanded fixing a minimum national wage for all the workers, considering the current inflation rate and price hike.

Workers' rights activist Taslima Akhter, chairperson of the conference, said, "Although RMG workers are the main fuel for our GDP growth and rising per capita income, they are not getting any benefit from this growth."

She added, "Despite the existence of so many organisations advocating for RMG workers' rights, they are failing to keep up with the price hike. The condition of informal sector workers is simply indescribable."