WE NEED laws and policies requiring a yearly wage increment in all employment sectors. Although the Bangladeshi context is not comparable to the United States just because the countries are vastly different in so many ways, there are some similarities and some scopes to learn from labour organising initiatives in the United States. For example, the US federal minimum wage has remained at USD 7.25/hour since 2009. Workers and activists in this country have long been organising to raise the federal minimum wage to at least USD 15/hour. Still, the federal government has been more interested in protecting the interests of big businesses, corporations, and the free market. Nevertheless, some states in the United States have demonstrated promising trends in increasing the state-level minimum wage. For example, Massachusetts enacted a law in 2018 which dictated an increase in minimum wage every year by 75 cents/hour until it reaches USD 15/hour by 2023. The current minimum wage in Massachusetts is USD 14.25/hour. While the U.S. federal stance is frustrating and resembles scenarios in Bangladesh, the Massachusetts labour law offers an inspiring model that could be adopted with necessary modifications in the context of Bangladesh.

Currently, no labour sector in Bangladesh involves any mandated yearly increase. The garment sector received an increase in the minimum wage only four times in the history of Bangladesh — in 1994, 2006, 2010, and 2019 — since the industry started its journey in the early 1980s. Needless to say, the raises did not just happen due to some existing worker-friendly protocols and policies. Workers and labour rights activists had to organise and fight hard to achieve each of these raises. Moreover, despite the raises, the minimum wage was not commensurate with the yearly inflation and increased living and other expenses. Some labour organisers demanded BDT 20,000/month in 2018 after reviewing the living expenses of garment workers, but the minimum wage was raised from BDT 5300/month to BDT 8000/month only. This year some labour rights organisations are demanding an increase of the minimum wage to BDT 24000/month. We will see how the government, the wage commission, and the factory owners respond eventually.