The national minimum wage for garment workers in Bangladesh was formally announced last week at Tk 12, 500 ($ 114 ) after many months of negotiations. There have been conflicting responses to this. While shop owners defend the new salary by claiming that it is a 50 % increase, unions and employee rights organizations contend that the increase should have been higher.
I’m not here to debate the merits of either of these justifications. Instead, I want to look at five possible methods for raising wages, outlining the benefits and drawbacks.
Following The Daily Star’s Google News route for all the most recent information.Advocacy is the first method. In order to ensure that workers receive compensation commensurate with their efforts, labor unions, non-governmental organizations ( NGOs ), and other stakeholders work together to advance policies that establish minimum wage standards. Governments can play a crucial role by putting such policies into practice and upholding them, establishing the legal framework that safeguards workers ‘ rights and ensures that they are paid on time.
For many years, advocacy efforts in Bangladesh have been a part of the national conversation about compensation. Such a strategy has the advantages of being political and creative. It includes a wide range of organizations and voices, which may help spread the word.
There are no drawbacks to such initiatives. The extent of this work’s influence in Bangladesh, where the gown industry occasionally seems to be mired in a pattern of lower wages despite the best efforts of unions and rights organizations, is unclear.
The following tactic entails encouraging accountability and transparency in the supply chains of the fashion industry. Some well-known brands and retailers obtain their goods from low-wage businesses, frequently in developing nations. Consumers can choose wisely and help businesses that adhere to honest labor practices by promoting clarity in these supply chains. Businesses can be held responsible for making sure that employees in their supply chains receive good pay and decent working conditions.
However, transparency may shed light on supply chain problems. Customers can persuade their favorite clothing companies to support efforts for higher wages for cloth workers after learning more about the people who make their clothes.
Accountability does have its drawbacks, though. activities like” Who made my outfits?” have been in existence for a long time. Do they affect those who work in the cloth industry? Have the results of these efforts resulted in higher income? Very much evidence points to this being the case. Maybe American consumers are so enraged by these issues that they choose to buy clothing at exorbitant discounts while oblivious to the cultural problems they are causing.
The third option is to increase shop performance so that any pay raise can be more easily absorbed and allow for higher worker salaries. Take China as an example; it continues to be the world’s leading exporter and producer of clothing despite having higher salaries than Bangladesh.
A closer look at all aspects of a factory—including weaving, fabric cost, dyeing, weaving, printing, washing, dry control, embroidery, equipment, and embellishments—is necessary to increase operational performance. Entrepreneurs must first take profit margins into account and consider how larger discounts can be made to help shift a larger portion of the funds toward wages.
Enhancing the abilities of cloth workers can result in increased productivity and, by extension, higher wages. Investing in training programs that improve staff ‘ abilities benefits both the individuals involved and the industry’s overall attractiveness. In order to increase the pay for skilled labor, governments, companies, and non-profit organizations can work together to create vocational training programs that give employees the skills they need for more specialized positions in the garment industry.
I strongly support this strategy. Rival nations like China and Vietnam have raised wages by improving productivity and training, as well as by enabling employees to make goods with higher value added.
This strategy has no drawbacks, and the economy as a whole is focused on the need to develop skills in Bangladesh. However, this may take some time, especially given that Bangladesh has largely become a typecast choice among buyers due to its low value and low cost. We must alter opinions on this front.
Finally, there is the opportunity to raise income that is enforceable. Similar to the Bangladesh Accord, we would establish a program around where buyers, suppliers, NGOs, unions, and rights organizations could sign up to agree on the barest minimum standards for purchasing behavior. This would include costs incurred for purchases with the intention of paying higher wages. The RMG Sustainability Council ( RSC ) is already a viable, replicable model.
What are we waiting for when we have so many options in our arms?
The managing director of Denim Expert Limited is Mostafiz Uddin. Additionally, he founded and is the CEO of Bangladesh Denim Expo and Bangladesh Apparel Exchange ( BAE ).
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
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