All the board members sat yesterday to review more than 400 opinions and objections sent by both factory owners and workers on the draft proposal.

"We will sit again and finalise the draft on October 5. We received many opinions and objections on the draft proposal and reviewed them today," Anwarul Haque, chairman of the six-member board, told The Daily Star yesterday.

The board will again look into the nitty-gritty of the draft and finalise it after making necessary changes, he said.

The board at its 25th meeting on September 12 prepared a three-tier proposal to be implemented in three years with Tk 1,604 as gross minimum salary for the entry level workers in the first year. The draft was also sent to the government.

The proposal was kept in circulation for 14 days for opinions and objections.

Board Chairman Haque, independent member on the board Iqbal Ahmed, and permanent representative of the workers on the board Zafrul Hasan signed the proposal. Annisul Huq, representative of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) on the board, did not agree with the proposal, while Nazma Akhtar, representative of workers on the board, did not sign the proposal, saying it did not match the expectation of the workers.

The board proposed Tk 1,604 as gross minimum wage for entry-level garment workers for the first year up to June 30, 2007. Minimum gross salary would be Tk 1,890 in the second year during July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008 and it would be Tk 2,117.50 in the third year starting from July 1, 2008, according to the draft proposal. There have been seven grades in the three-tier wage structure.

Following a labour unrest in the country's premier export-earning garment sector, the government formed the wage board on May 31 and asked it to recommend a pay structure for the workers within three months. The minimum wage for workers in the RMG sector is now Tk 930, which was fixed about 12 years ago.

The government, garment factory owners and workers' leaders at a meeting on June 12 inked a 10-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) after a series of discussions and decided to implement the MoU in phases to address the unrest.