The government has taken urgent steps to address ongoing protests and unrest by garment workers demanding higher wages. To deal with the situation, Labour and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury has cancelled his planned visit to the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting with relevant ministers and advisers on Sunday (November 1) evening to discuss the situation.

A source at the Cabinet Division said the prime minister had summoned six to seven ministers and advisers to his office to discuss the ongoing garment workers’ protests and their demand for higher wages. The meeting is expected to take place after Maghrib prayers.

Ministers in charge of the Finance, Home Affairs and Labour ministries, along with several other ministers and Adviser Mahdi Amin, are expected to attend the meeting.

Earlier, the government formed a wage board at around 11:30 am on Sunday to review the minimum wages of garment workers. Labour and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury met the prime minister at around 1:00 pm.

Sources concerned said the prime minister had issued necessary instructions two days earlier to address the labour unrest. However, the formation of the wage board was delayed somewhat due to the delay in receiving the name of the workers’ nominated representative.

Announcing the formation of the wage board at the Secretariat on Sunday afternoon, Labour Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury told journalists that the government hoped the board would hold its meeting as soon as possible. This would help move the wage determination process forward, he said.

He said forming a wage board had been one of the key demands of the workers and the government had fulfilled it. He expressed hope that workers would now leave the streets and return to their factories.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the protests and the announcement of holidays at several factories, the minister said the decision to announce the formation of the wage board on Sunday had been taken after discussions with labour leaders. Workers had also been urged to remain at their factories.

However, he alleged that some factories had declared holidays unnecessarily and that workers had been misled into believing that the announcement of the wage board had not yet been made.

Asked whether there were political motives behind the ongoing protests, Ariful Haque Chowdhury said the government believed that several political organisations were deliberately trying to create instability. The public and workers would learn the details soon, he added.

The labour minister also claimed that an organising secretary of a banned student organisation had been seen participating in the movement under the identity of a garment worker. The protests are demanding a minimum monthly wage of Tk 30,000. According to the minister, photographs related to the incident have also circulated on social media.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the wage board has been instructed to begin the process of determining the minimum wage for garment workers through discussions with representatives of employers, workers and independent members.

However, the date of the board’s first meeting and the announcement of the new wage structure have yet to be decided.