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Laboni, a garment factory operator. The salary is around 11 thousand rupees including overtime. She lives with her husband and children in a room under a tent made for garment workers. 3 thousand rupees rent. Rent conditions will increase by 200 rupees, in January and June. Laboni's husband, who is infected with Hepatitis C, takes medicine worth Rs 4,000 a month. Before giving an account of the rest of the month, Laboni said angrily: ‘Not 30 rupees for me, 80 rupees for you. How do you want to hear that? '
Not only Laboni, millions of garment workers are struggling to make ends meet like Laboni. Laboni said, ‘Come back home and sit down to cook and sew clothes. I sew clothes till dawn. Although the boy was 6 years old, he could not attend school. Who will bring him to and from school? Who will pay for it? 'He said that he could not go to the government school without pay as he was not around the house.
Everyone has a tied grocery store
Most of the garment workers' families go to the grocery store. That continuous loan goes on repaying this month's money and monthly. "Everything goes with my rent and the baby,""said helper Mizan". What to eat next? Monthly transactions go to the grocery store in the neighborhood. Eggs are the best food. Meat to say broiler chicken. You can't touch fish and meat, you can't touch vegetables. Vegetables are sold at low prices at the end of the day, they are bought and eaten. '
"We are 3 siblings living together," said another helper, Moyna. The family lives on the income of 3 people. 'He also commented that there is no life in the income.
Workers' anger over wages
In February 2019, the minimum wage for seventh grade workers was fixed at Tk 8,200, of which basic wage was Tk 4,500, house rent was Tk 2250, medical allowance was Tk 1450, travel allowance was Tk 650 and food allowance was Tk 1300.
It is almost impossible for the leaders of the workers 'and workers' organizations to survive with their families with this money. They say that they have to live without the minimum benefits of living and raising children.
The living standards of the workers will not be improved. Budget means price increase. They lamented that there was nothing in the budget for the workers, even though the incentives were given to the employers.
Deficit budget all the time
There is always a deficit of 5 to 3 thousand rupees. Apart from the remittances sent by the expatriates for the last 30 years, the wages demanded for the workers have been the main source of income for the garment workers. Wages are lower than in all other sectors but workers in this sector.
But then there was a demand to raise the minimum wage to Tk 6,000. In 2010 the wage was increased to 3 thousand rupees. The wage board formed in 2013 fixed the wage at Tk 5,300. 11 grades were made in 2016 of their salary. Of these, 6 were fixed for employees and 4 for workers. The minimum wage is set at 6 thousand. There was a demand for 16 thousand rupees, although the cost of living was calculated to be the minimum.
The general secretary of the Garment Workers Trade Union Center said, "The lives of the workers are always in the budget deficit. Their wages are fixed at Rs 5,000 to Rs 3,000 less than the minimum requirement. How will their quality of life increase as a result? Instead, they are forced to stay bad over time. '
Asked why he was reluctant to raise their wages in comparison to the amount of export earnings for the welfare of the workers, the president said, "The voice of the workers in the Garment Workers' League does not reach us as fast as it used to." "The owners can't forget the amount of profit that Garments made in the eighties and nineties," he said. They think that there will always be the same amount of profit. But the garment compliance — all in all is no longer the case. '
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