The government has taken the initiative to review the wages for workers and employees working in the country’s vegetable oil mills after nine years of the last revision.

The labour ministry recently appointed representatives of owners and workers engaged in the sector to the minimum wage board and asked the board to take the necessary steps to review the minimum wages for workers employed in the sector.

The ministry appointed Bangladesh Edible Oil Limited senior manager (HR and admin) Kalyan Mitra Chakma as the owners’ representative and Bangladesh Edible Oil Limited Shramik Karmachari Union general secretary Md Shahjahan Mollah as the workers’ representative to the wage board.

The minimum wage for the vegetable oil refinery sector workers was last set at Tk 7,420 in 2010 as monthly gross pay, including a basic pay of Tk 4,800, house rent of Tk 1,920, medical allowance of Tk 500 and travel allowance of Tk 200.

The minimum wage for the employees was set at Tk 4,200 as monthly gross pay, including a basic pay of Tk 2,500, house rent of Tk 1,000, medical allowance of Tk 500 and travel allowance of Tk 200.

Workers’ representative to the wage board Shahjahan Mollah told New Age on Sunday that they would place a proposal to the government and board demanding Tk 15,000 as basic pay for the workers.

He said that the workers’ wages were last reviewed nearly 10 years ago and the workers and employees of the sector were now earning higher than the amount set in the existing wage structure.

Shahjahan said that nearly 40,000 workers were working in 15 to 16 vegetable oil refineries in the country.

Owners’ representative to the wage board Kalyan Mitra Chakma said that he had no knowledge of his appointment to the board.

‘I am an employee of the Bangladesh Edible Oil Limited and no one has informed me about any such appointment. I cannot make any comment in this regard until discussing the matter with my company,’ he said.

The minimum wage board consists of a chairman, an independent member, a permanent representative of the employers and a permanent representative of the workers.

To review the wages for workers and employees of any industrial sector, the labour ministry appoints one temporary representative among the employers and one temporary representative among the workers engaged in the sector.