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The government has replaced the chairman of the reconstituted minimum wage board following protests by garment workers.
Just three days after the board was formed, retired judge Sheikh Ashfakur Rahman was replaced by Syed Azad Subhani, a district and sessions judge serving at the Child Violence Prevention Tribunal in Pirojpur.
The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs issued a notification regarding the appointment on Wednesday (November 4).
Meanwhile, the first meeting of the new wage board to determine the minimum wages for garment workers is scheduled to be held today, according to a press release.
The release said the meeting would be chaired by the newly appointed chairman. The board’s first meeting has been called to formulate recommendations on minimum wage rates for workers and employees in the garment industry.
Earlier, on November 1, the government reconstituted the minimum wage board to revise the wages of readymade garment workers.
A notification issued that day appointed Dhaka University Professor Mosleh Uddin Ahmed as the independent member. Asif Ayub, joint secretary-general of the Bangladesh Employers’ Federation, and Anwar Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, were appointed as permanent representatives of the owners and workers, respectively.
In a separate notification issued the same day, BGMEA Director ABM Shamsuddin was appointed as the owners’ representative, while Babul Akhter, general secretary of the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF), was appointed as the workers’ representative.
Senior District and Sessions Judge Sheikh Ashfakur Rahman was initially appointed chairman of the six-member wage board. However, following his resignation, the government appointed a new chairman just three days after the board’s formation.
