Published : 01 Nov 2026, 02:27 PM
Updated : 01 Nov 2026, 02:27 PM
Labour and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury has called on protesting garment workers to return to work after announcing the formation of a new minimum wage board.
He says that the government is treating the long-standing demands and rights of workers with the "utmost importance".
Garment workers have been protesting in the capital for the past few days, demanding a minimum wage of Tk 30,000. Clashes with police took place in Dhaka's Mirpur area on Sunday as well.
The labour minister held a press conference at the Secretariat amid an ongoing blockade in Mirpur and announced the formation of a separate board to determine the minimum wage for garment workers.
"Their demand was a wage board, today their wage board has been formed. The board has been formed with the members they provided as representatives. Now, I hope they will leave the streets and return to their factories," Ariful said.
Asif Ayub, joint secretary-general of the Bangladesh Employers' Federation, will represent the owners, while Anwar Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Nationalist Workers' Party, will represent the workers.
Prof Mosleh Uddin Ahmed of the Department of Public Administration at Dhaka University has been appointed as the independent member.
The government has also formed a separate six-member wage board to determine the minimum wage for workers in the garment industry.
In accordance with the Labour Act, the six-member board comprises the four members of the minimum wage board, along with one representative each from the garment owners and workers.
ABM Shamsuddin, a director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), will represent the owners, while Babul Akhtar, general secretary of the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation, will represent the workers.
The labour minister said, "Those who have become members of the wage board will be urged to meet as soon as possible. The worker representatives and the owner representatives will discuss it... now it's up to them."
Despite taking the initiative to form the wage board, Ariful said “political fuel” had been added to the workers’ movement.
He said, "(I said) worker brothers, if you stay in the factories, we will form the wage board on Sunday. But what happened today? A few of those concerned have announced an unnecessary holiday.
"The workers... in a planned manner... what did they say? (They say) that it has not been announced yet. But it had already been told to them along with their leaders that we would announce (the wage board committee) on Sunday. But I think it is very clear that... a few political organisations are working to create an unstable environment."
