President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Abdus Salam Murshedy told reporters after a meeting with Home Minister Shahara Khatun that the workers will receive salary and other financial benefits from December in accordance with the new scale.
"The new wage structure has been implemented from November, but they will enjoy it from early December," he said, adding that the workers' arrears and other allowances will be cleared before the Eid under the old pay-scale.
The garment workers have been demonstrating for the last few days in different parts of the country, demanding festival allowance as per the new salary structure, leading to clashes with law-enforcers, production suspension, road blockade, vandalism and causalities.
The BGMEA leaders also sought cooperation of the Home Ministry regarding the issue, as they implored the owners to disburse all due payments before Eid-ul-Azha.
The home minister urged the workers not to become violent and engage themselves in vandalism. She said the workers' dues will be paid timely, and they will be able to celebrate the Eid festival properly.
"If any problem occurs, it will be solved through mutual efforts from both sides," she added.
Meanwhile, another FE report adds: Workers in the Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ), the country's one specialised economic zone, are going to receive Eid bonus at an increased rate within 10 days on the basis of their new wages.
Bangladesh EPZ Authority (BEPZA) refixed the minimum wages and benefits for the workers of the EPZ on October 06 with at least 60 per cent hike which was effective on November 1.
DEPZ officials said 99 per cent EPZ firms have confirmed their readiness to disburse Eid bonus as per new wage by November 11.
DEPZ earlier on October 25 issued a circular to all companies in the zone to disburse Eid bonus at the rate equivalent to one month's basic pay on the new wages before November 10, 2010.
The officials said though some enterprises have already started disbursing bonus, majority will finish disbursement by November 11/12.
"We are hopeful that the EPZ workers will enjoy their Eid with new bonus," said DEPZ general manager M Ashraful Kabir.
The GM said the government always tries to maintain a standard in EPZs and claimed that 98 per cent of DEPZ enterprises are compliant.
Tapan Kumar Majumder, manager of Kung Keng Textile (Bangladesh) Co Ltd said the EPZ enterprises always try to keep conformity in providing workers' wages and other benefits.
He said they are ready to disburse Eid bonus by readjusting all dues and benefits of workers with the new wage structure.
BEPZA has also issued similar notice to other eight EPZs in the country but officials said they are yet to receive confirmed information about the disbursement.
DEPZ has around 100 enterprises on its two premises where more than 76,000 workers work are employed.
-FE, Wed, 10/11/2010
If you liked the post then,
Click here to Join us for FREE email updates from "www.apparelmakers.org", so that you do not miss out anything that can be valuable to you and your business!!
0 comments:
Post a Comment