Worker and employer representatives on the Minimum Wage Board have agreed that a new minimum wage for garment workers will take effect in December, with workers receiving the new rates from January 2027.

The agreement was reached at the board’s first meeting in Dhaka. Babul Akhter, a worker representative, told journalists after the meeting that the new wage would apply from December and that workers would be paid at the new rate from January. ABM Shamsuddin, who represents employers, confirmed the same.

Syed Azad Subhani, a district and sessions judge who chairs the newly formed board, said the process would not take as long as last time and that a recommendation would be made quickly in the workers’ interests. He said he hoped the board would draw up its recommendation within a month.

The government formed the six-member board on November 1 to revise wages in the ready-made garment industry. Labour and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury announced it at a press conference at the secretariat that morning.

Besides Subhani, the board comprises employer representatives Shamsuddin, a BGMEA director, and Asif Ayub, joint secretary general of the Bangladesh Employers Federation; worker representatives Anwar Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, and Babul Akter, general secretary of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation; and neutral member Dr Mosleh Uddin Ahmad, a Dhaka University professor.

The board will recommend minimum wages for all grades. The government will announce the new wage structure and publish it in the official gazette on the basis of the board’s recommendation.