Staff Reporter, Dhaka : A minimum monthly wage of Tk. 12,800 has been finalized for the workers of the EPZs run under BEPZA. The wage Board finalized the wage in its 5th & last meeting today (21-12-2023).

The workers of EPZ will get minimum wage of Tk. 12800 including basic salary of Tk. 6950, 50% of basic (Tk. 3475) as house rent and Tk. 2375 as medical allowance. Besides, the workers will get food or food allowance and transport or transport allowance in addition to the gross wage and this benefit would be maintained in the current wage structure as it was earlier.

Under the Section 65 of the ‘Bangladesh EPZ Labor Act 2019’, the government constituted a Wage Board on 9 November 2023 consisting of 11 members from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Finance, and representatives of owners & workers of EPZ enterprises headed by the Executive Chairman of BEPZA. In the first meeting of the Wage Board seven more members were co-opted including three owners’ representatives & three workers’ representatives.

The Wage Board met in a total four meetings and unanimously recommended a minimum wage of Tk. 12,800. Recommended draft wage published in gazette notification on 7 December 2023. The recommended wage finalized today with considering the opinion received from various parties within 14 days of publishing the notification. It will be placed to the Hon’ble Prime Minister for approval.

The final wage will be effective from 1 December 2023 and around 5 lac workers of the EPZs will get wage in the new structure from January 2024.

The current minimum gross wage (except food and transport allowance) of an EPZ worker is Tk. 8200 which was fixed in 2018. In the new structure, the minimum wage of EPZ workers has been increased by 56.25%.

Mentionable that, currently 450 industries are in operation in 8 EPZs located at different parts of the country including BEPZA Economic Zone at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar, Mirsharai, Chattogram. Till November 2023, investors from 37 countries have invested US$ 6.6 billion. The goods worth of US$ 107 billion so far exported from the EPZs.