Staff Correspondent

Speakers at an event called on the authorities concerned to take immediate steps for publishing the final wage structure for workers in the tannery sector in gazette.

Citing article 139 (2) of the country’s Labour Law, they said that the wage board recommendations are supposed to be handed over to the government within six months of its formation. As the legal process is being delayed, uncertainty and frustration gripped the workers, who are the main driving force in the sector.

As the workers are facing severe financial crisis due to price hike of essentials at the moment, it would be tough to achieve the production target in the sector keeping workers in economic trouble. Under the circumstances, it would also hamper our efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), they observed.

They made the observations while addressing a joint consultation meeting between Tannery Workers Union and Bangladesh Labour Rights Journalists Forum at a hotel at Topkhana Road in the capital on Tuesday .

Tannery Workers Union with the support of Solidarity Center-Bangladesh organized the event. The event was told that Labour and Employment Ministry through a notification on July 23, 2023 formed a minimum wage board for recommending minimum wages for the tannery sector. After a gap of 15 months, the wage board on September 9 this year (2024) published its draft recommendation. As no side placed their objection to it, the minimum wage board later sent their recommendation to Labour and Employment Ministry. Since then, there has been no progress regarding the wage board.

Terming tannery as the country’s potential sector, TWU leaders observed that the sector would not sustain without the welfare of its workers. They called on journalists to write on the issue so that their demand for publishing the wage board in gazette and its proper implementation can be realized soon. 

The Minimum Wage Board for the Bangladeshi tannery industry proposed a new minimum wage of Tk 18,001 for Savar and divisional areas, and Tk 17,048 for other areas, effective from 2024. This is about 34% higher than the previous minimum wage of Tk 13,500 for urban areas and Tk 12,800 for non-urban areas, which was set in 2018. The new minimum wage also includes a 5% annual wage increment. Abul Kalam Azad, president of Tannery Workers Union (TWU), gave the welcome address, while it was chaired by Kazi Abdul Hannan, president of Bangladesh Labour Rights Journalists Forum.

AKM Nasim, Country Programme Director of Solidarity Center-Bangladesh, Nazrul Islam and Rezwanul Haque Azam, programme officers of Solidarity Center, and members of Bangladesh Labour Rights Journalists Forum, spoke at the event.

Abdul Maleque, general secretary of (TWU), presented the keynote paper on the minimum wage for tannery workers and employees and its present condition.