Confusion over a survey report on RMG wage loss and our explanation
The report, headlined "RMG worker wages down 50%-65% in pandemic: Survey" and published in The Business Standard on 22 June, raised confusion about the present state of workers in the country's apparel sector since no period of the survey was mentioned in the formal presentation.
The report was based on the primary findings of a survey by CARE Bangladesh.
The findings of the Watch Report entitled "Rights Implementation Status of Women Workers in Bangladesh's Ready-Made Garment Industries" were shared at a webinar on Monday, 21 June.
The survey took place between "end of December 2020 and January 2021," Md Babul Azad, team leader of CARE Bangladesh's Promoting Worker Well Being Project, said in an email reply yesterday.
The organisation declined to share anything about the survey report, not even the PowerPoint presentation shown at the webinar on Monday.
"We are not sharing the PowerPoint presentation any more. We are doing the final work on the report. You will get it soon," Humaira Aziz, director for Women and Girls' Empowerment Program of CARE Bangladesh, said on Tuesday.
Reached by phone, Jagannath University Associate Professor Mostafiz Ahmed, who presented the draft of the survey report, yesterday said all the data used in the survey were mainly of 2020 and 93% of the workers surveyed said they were paid 50-65% less wages "sometime in that pandemic year."
"It was the draft report, not the final one. The survey period was not specified in the published report," he told TBS.
The survey was conducted on 390 workers of the readymade garment sector.
Some 23% of the workers have not yet received the minimum wage of Tk8,000 set by the government, while some 90% of them said trade union is non-existent, according to the survey findings.
Mostafiz also declined to share the draft report of the survey although it was made public at the webinar.