The government has taken an initiative to review the minimum wages for workers and employees in the country’s shrimp sector.

The labour ministry in a Gazette notice issued on February 15 appointed representatives of the industry owners and workers to the minimum wage board to review the minimum monthly wages of the workers, nine years after the last review undertaken in 2015.

In 2015, the government set Tk 4,419 as the monthly minimum wage for the workers of the shrimp sector with Tk 2,940 as basic pay, Tk 1,029 as house rent, Tk 300 as medical allowance and Tk 150 as transport allowance.

The minimum wages for the employees of the shrimp sector had been set at Tk 5,013 with Tk 3,380 as basic pay, Tk 1,183 as house rent, Tk 300 as medical allowance and Tk 150 as transport allowance.

The labour ministry appointed Khondoker Ainul Islam, managing director of Southfield Fisheries Limited, as the owners’ representative and Syed Abdur Rashid, a worker at Fresh Foods Limited in Khulna, as the workers’ representative to the wage board.

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

The labour ministry appoints the workers’ and employers’ representatives from the respective industry for recommending the minimum wage.

About 15,000 workers are employed in more than 53 shrimp processing plants across the country, industry people said.