With critical decision looming, NGWF steps up its campaign for a living wage
On 28 July, Bangladesh's national wage board will decide whether or not to increase the minimum salary of country's garment workers.
On 28 July, Bangladesh's national wage board will decide whether or not to increase the minimum salary of country's garment workers.
The current minimum wage, which amounts to a mere 1,662 taka (£15) per month, has remained unchanged since 2006 despite increases in food prices and other basic commodities.
Over the last few months the National Garment Workers' Federation (NGWF), a long-term War on Want partner, has been campaigning tirelessly for a rise in the national minimum wage to levels equaling a living wage. The president of the NGWF said: "The campaign will continue with demonstrations, sit-ins and a human chain until the day of the wage board's decision. It is our responsibility as a garment workers' trade union to peacefully pressure the government and owners until garment workers achieve their right to a living wage."
For the last two weeks Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, has been the site of confrontations between garment workers and the police, as negotiations stalled over a wage increase.
On 1 July, the NGWF met with representatives of the Garment Workers Unity Council, an umbrella organisation made up of 10 garment workers' trade federations, to agree on strategies and aims for the campaign for a living wage and other issues of crucial need for garment workers. Their demands include:
- A guaranteed living wage of 5,000 taka (£45) for all garment workers
- The implementation of the Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining Conventions, which Bangladesh ratified in 1972
- An immediate halt to the creation of a garment industry police force, which the government is currently reviewing
- The creation of a rationing system for food and other basic commodities among garment workers.
War on Want stands in solidarity with NGWF and garment workers at this crucial time and calls for the Bangladeshi government, factory owners and UK retailers to address the urgent need for a living wage in the garment sector.
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