Garments Sramik Front on Friday staged demonstration in the city, demanding Tk 20,000 as national minimum wage and Tk 24,000 as lowest monthly wage for the garment workers following high cost of living due to price hike of essentials.

The labour rights body, in the programme arranged in front of the National Press Club, also demanded introduction of dearness allowance for the interim period and ration at subsidized prices for the workers.

Addressing the demonstration rally, the labour leaders said Garments Sramik Front and Garment Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (G-SKOP) earlier in 2018 demanded Tk 18,000 as the minimum wage to keep consistency with the Pay Commission. But Tk 8,000 was announced as the minimum wage ignoring the demand at that time, they said.

The leaders said the prices of daily essentials have skyrocketed due to the recent fuel price-hike. Now the value of the wages of garment workers has fallen below half. The workers are struggling to survive due to malnutrition, they added.

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They also demanded stopping misuses of section 13 (1) of the labour law to end the oppression of workers as well as opening the ABC Knit Dyeing and Finishing Mills at Shyampur immediately to reinstate its workers in the job.

According to the section 13 (1) of Labour Act 2006, the owner can close any branch or section of a factory or other establishment partially or entirely due to illegal strike and the participant workers of the illegal strike would not get any wage in case of such shutdown of the branch or section.  

President of Garments Sramik Front Ahsan Habib Bulbul presided over the rally, while its general secretary Selim Mahmud conducted it, said a press release.