The new minimum wage for Bangladesh’s readymade garment workers will take effect in December, and workers will get the revised pay from January. Owners’ and workers’ representatives agreed this at the first meeting of the newly formed Minimum Wage Board at its office in Segunbagicha, Dhaka, on 4 November, The Business Standard reported.
“New wages will be implemented in December. Workers will receive their new salaries from January,” said Babul Akter, the workers’ representative on the board. ABM Shamsuddin, who represents factory owners, agreed with him. The meeting was chaired by Syed Azad Subhani, the board’s new chairman. After the meeting Babul Akter asked workers to return to their factories and resume work.
The amount is still open
The agreement covers timing. The report did not give a new wage figure. Protesting workers are demanding a minimum of Tk 30,000 a month, up from the current Tk 12,500, citing living costs. They also want an end to blacklisting of workers and what they call unjust layoffs.
The government formed the six-member board on 1 November after days of protests and clashes in Mirpur, Ashulia, Hemayetpur, Gazipur and Narayanganj. Workers clashed with law enforcement again in Savar, Gazipur and Narayanganj on 4 November, before the meeting.
Factories shut in Gazipur after a worker’s death
More than 50 garment factories in Gazipur announced holidays of one to three days from 4 November. Toufiq Hossain, 35, a garment worker for about five years, died in hospital in Uttara on the morning of 3 November. His relatives said he was beaten on 2 November while filming an attack on a workers’ protest outside a factory in Gazipur. A senior Gazipur police official gave a different account, saying outsiders had pressured the factory to close and clashed with workers when management refused.
What to watch
The board still has to set the new minimum. For unions, labour rights groups and NGOs that support garment workers, the figure it settles on, and whether factories pay it on time from January, will decide whether the unrest ends.
Sources
- RMG workers’ new wages to take effect in December, owners and workers agree, The Business Standard, 4 November 2026
- Over 50 garment factories in Gazipur announce holidays after worker dies from protest injuries, The Business Standard, 4 November 2026
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