77% of tannery workers in Savar earn below minimum wage: Study
About 42% of workers said they work more than ten hours a day, 33% reported working all seven days of the week
Nearly 77% of tannery workers in Hemayetpur's Tannery Industrial Area, Savar, are paid below the legal minimum wage, while around two-thirds work on a temporary basis, finds a news study.
The study, jointly conducted by the Bangladesh Tannery Workers Union and the Solidarity Center Bangladesh between August and November, was based on shadow inspections and interviews with 225 workers across 121 factories.
The findings were presented today (30 November) at a multi-stakeholder meeting in Paltan, Dhaka.
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"Seventy-seven percent of workers reported earning less than the legally mandated minimum wage; only one-fifth receive payslips, and most described wage payments as irregular or delayed," said Mehedee Islam, consultant at the Solidarity Center, while presenting the report.
The report highlighted widespread labour rights violations. About 42% of workers said they work more than ten hours a day, 33% reported working all seven days of the week, and 63% stated they do not receive legally required double-rate overtime pay.
Occupational safety was also a major concern. Only one-third of workers receive personal protective equipment (PPE), 58% said they are not guided on proper PPE use, and 77% reported never receiving formal health and safety training.
Workers also cited issues such as poor ventilation, persistent odour, waterlogging, and inadequate waste management.
Female workers face additional challenges as 85% reported not receiving maternity leave or benefits, and nearly one-third said clean, separate toilet facilities for women are lacking.
The study also revealed shortcomings in grievance handling as one-third of workers said there is no formal process to lodge complaints about wages or safety, and 43% admitted experiencing mistreatment but avoided reporting it due to fear of retaliation.
Unionised factories, the report noted, perform better across key compliance indicators, including minimum wage enforcement, written contracts, grievance systems, and access to protective equipment.
"This report highlights and reinforces the difficult conditions workers continue to face, even after tannery factories were relocated from Hazaribagh to Hemayetpur," said AKM Nasim, country program director of the Solidarity Center.
The findings were discussed by several stakeholders, including Abul Kalam Azad, president of the Tannery Workers' Union; Rashadul Alam Raju, general secretary of the Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers' Union Federation; Sekender Ali Mina, executive director of the Safety and Rights Society; and Advocate Salim Ahsan Khan of the Bangladesh Labour Court.
