New Garment Wage Structure to Take Effect in December as Unrest Hits Factories

Bangladeshi Talents · 4 November 2026 · 3 min read

Bangladesh's garment sector now has a start date for its next pay structure, but not yet a number. At the first meeting of the newly formed Minimum Wage Board, held in Dhaka on 4 November, owners' and workers' representatives agreed that the revised structure will apply from December. Workers would receive their first salaries under it in January.

The government set up the six-member board on 1 November, with Syed Azad Subhani as chairman. Workers' representative Babul Akter urged people to return to their factories, and owners' representative ABM Shamsuddin backed his account of the meeting. Reports of the meeting gave no wage figure, and Reuters said the size of any increase was not discussed and that more meetings will follow.

What led to it

Workers have been protesting for days, demanding that the minimum monthly wage rise to Tk 30,000 from the current Tk 12,500. They are also calling for an end to blacklisting and to what they describe as unjust layoffs. The Business Standard reported protests in Mirpur, Ashulia, Hemayetpur, Gazipur and Narayanganj, with clashes between workers and police on 4 November.

Production has been hit as well. The Business Standard reported that about 370 factories suspended work on 4 November, down from about 600 the day before and about 700 on Monday.

Separately, The Business Standard reported on 5 November, citing an unnamed senior official, that two National Board of Revenue intelligence units have asked banks to freeze the accounts of more than 100 people over alleged links to the unrest, and that about 125 companies are under scrutiny.

Why it matters for professionals

For HR, compliance and finance teams in RMG, a December start means pay budgets have to be planned before the final figure is known. Merchandisers and costing teams face the same uncertainty on orders being priced now. Suppliers, banks and logistics firms that depend on garment shipments also have a stake in how quickly factories return to normal output.

What to watch next

The figure the board proposes, and how far it moves from Tk 12,500 towards the workers' Tk 30,000 demand
Whether factories reopen and protests ease after the December commitment
A formal board decision or gazette notification, for which no date has been given
Further details of the NBR's inquiry

Sources

Cover photo: Garment factory floor in Bangladesh by Fahad Faisal / Wikimedia Commons, cropped (CC BY-SA 4.0)