The newly reconstituted Minimum Wage Board for the ready-made garment (RMG) sector held its first meeting on Wednesday, announcing that the new wage structure will come into effect in December and workers will receive their increased wages from January 2027.
The timeline was announced jointly by the board’s owner representative ABM Shamsuddin and worker representative Babul Akhter after the meeting at the Minimum Wage Board office in Segunbagicha.
The meeting was chaired by newly appointed board Chairman and District and Sessions Judge Syed Azad Subhani.
The first meeting of the reconstituted board was held amid ongoing labour unrest in the garment sector and a series of high-level discussions over workers’ demands for higher wages.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Syed Azad Subhani said the owner and worker representatives would submit their respective wage proposals at the next meeting.
The board’s neutral member will also submit a proposal following which formal discussions on the proposed wage rates will begin, he said.
The government reconstituted the Minimum Wage Board on Sunday through a gazette notification.
Under the notification, Dhaka University Professor Mosleh Uddin Ahmad was appointed as the board’s neutral member, while Asif Ayub, Joint Secretary General of the Bangladesh Employers’ Federation, and Anwar Hossain, President of the Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, were appointed as permanent members representing employers and workers, respectively.
In a separate notification issued the same day, ABM Shamsuddin, a director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), and Babul Akhter, General Secretary of the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF), were appointed as the sector-specific representatives of employers and workers, respectively.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs transferred former board Chairman Sheikh Ashfaqur Rahman to the Judicial Administration Training Institute as Director (Training) and appointed Syed Azad Subhani as his successor.
The ministry notification did not specify any reason for the transfer.
On Tuesday evening, BGMEA President Mahmud Hasan Khan met Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to discuss the situation in the apparel sector.
After the meeting, Mahmud Hasan Khan told editors of major national dailies that an early announcement of the wage board’s timeline would help reassure garment workers and restore stability in the sector.