Bizbd Report 
Garment factory owners and labour leaders in Bangladesh remained at odds over the continuation of the government-approved enhanced annual wage increment for workers in the country’s readymade garment sector, following widespread labour unrest in late 2024.
Labour representatives insisted that workers were entitled to a 9.0 per cent annual increment, including an additional 4.0 per cent, until the next government review, while industry leaders argued that the increase applied only for 2025 as a temporary measure to address the sector’s crisis.
According to the government’s decision, garment workers are set to receive their annual increment in January, which labour leaders say should be 9.0 per cent, while industry leaders say it should be 5.0 per cent.
Following the political changeover in Bangladesh, which ended the 15-year rule of the Awami League through a mass uprising on August 5, 2024, the country’s readymade garment sector experienced over a thousand incidents of unrest between August and December 2024.
A total of 1,108 incidents were recorded across major industrial areas during this period, with November alone accounting for 158 cases—98 in Tongi, Gazipur, 33 in Ashulia and Savar, and 20 in Dhaka city—mostly linked to wage disputes.
Amid the labour unrest, factory owners and workers’ representatives, in the presence of government officials, reached an agreement on December 9, 2024 to raise the annual wage increment by an additional 4.0 per cent, bringing the total increase to 9.0 per cent.
This was subsequently formalised in a government gazette notification issued on January 5, 2025, confirming the 9.0 per cent increment effective from January 2025.
The notification also stated: ‘This wage increase will continue until the government re-evaluates or the Minimum Wage Board announces the next minimum wage rate.’
The government’s decision followed waves of labour unrest that prompted the increase on top of the 5.0 per cent annual increment previously announced by the Minimum Wage Board.
Mohammad Hatem, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), said that the 9.0 per cent annual increment for garment workers applied only for 2025.
A debate between Hatem and labour leaders over the increment rate took place at a programme on October 26 at a Dhaka hotel.
Babul Akhter, general secretary of Industriall Bangladesh Council, countered the BKMEA president’s statement, insisting that workers are entitled to a 9.0 per cent annual increment until the minimum wage is reviewed again, either by the government or the Wage Board.
He explained that both owners and workers had initially demanded different rates—10 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively—before agreeing on the 9.0 per cent increment.
Echoing the BKMEA leader, Bangladesh Employers Federation (BEF) president Fazlee Shamim Ehsan said that the gazette only confirmed that the existing minimum monthly wage, last reviewed in 2023, would continue until the next review and did not specify the increment rate.
In 2023, the government set the minimum monthly wage for entry-level garment workers at Tk 12,500, with a five per cent annual increment, up from Tk 8,000 in 2018.
He said that the 4.0 per cent additional hike, taking the total to 9.0 per cent, had been agreed considering last year’s high inflation, which had since declined.
Ehsan said that a 9.0 per cent increment for a single sector was not sustainable and warned that many workers could face unemployment if the sector could not maintain viability.
Citing a decrease in exports, Ehsan suggested that the 5.0 per cent increment rate for the coming year might need reconsideration and confirmed that BEF would request BGMEA and BKMEA to notify their members by next December.
Meanwhile, the Government, through the Ministry of Labour and Employment, confirmed the wage increase on 5 January 2025 following recommendations from the Minimum Wage Revaluation and Annual Increment Committee, which was formed based on the Ministry’s memorandum dated September 29, 2024.
The notification (No. 40.00.0000.016.99.009.24-207) specified that the annual increment would increase by 4.0 per cent on top of the existing 5.0 per cent, effective from December 1, 2024 and payable from January 2025, with all other benefits under the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 (as last amended) remaining applicable.
According to the notification, the government had decided the following:
The announcement was issued by Puravi Goldar, Senior Assistant Secretary, by order of the President.
