Statement on wage structure revision Bangladesh
As Bangladesh's garment sector faces renewed tensions over wages and working conditions, the Minimum Wage Board is considering workers' demands for higher pay. Workers' representatives have proposed a minimum monthly wage of Tk32,000 for Grade 4 garment workers, exceeding the Global Living Wage Coalition's 2025 living wage estimates for Dhaka and surrounding districts.
Fair Wear strongly supports the movement towards living wages. But raising wages is only part of the equation: The purchasing decisions of international brands will help determine whether higher wages translate into lasting improvements for workers.
Workers' voices at the heart of wage negotiations
Every worker deserves a living wage; a wage that covers all living costs for workers and their families, including housing, food, healthcare, education, and other essential goods and services, for work performed during normal working hours. Living wages are a fundamental human right, critical for worker wellbeing, and instrumental for other labour rights.
Achieving living wages requires worker input and collective bargaining. With living costs rising significantly since Bangladesh’s current minimum wage was set in late 2023, workers themselves are best placed to define what a living wage must provide and negotiate for wages that reflect their realities. Collective bargaining, the process of all negotiations between employers and one or more trade unions, ensures worker input is included and considered in negotiations about fair wages and working conditions. Fair Wear welcomes the ongoing wage structure revision by the wage board in Bangladesh that respects the locally established procedures, including tri-partite negotiations with worker representatives.
Brands’ responsibility in closing the loop on living wages
Raising the minimum wage is an important step towards living wages, but the impact of that increase also depends on what happens beyond the wage-setting process. Wage increases result in higher labour costs, and suppliers need to be able to pay this. Brands have a critical role in making that possible through responsible purchasing practices. When labour costs rise, those increases need to be reflected in fair and transparent price negotiations. Proactively engaging in these can ensure that extra costs are accounted for through higher prices, rather than leaving suppliers to absorb these costs.
this is where equitable sourcing relationships make a difference: brands and suppliers working together to ensure that risks, responsibilities and accountability are shared, and higher wages translate into lasting improvements for workers.