They said the country would not have experienced recent violence at garment factories if minimum wage for garment workers were declared.

Leaders of 16 garment workers' organisations articulated their demand at the meeting with owners' side of the newly formed wage board for garment industry and former BGMEA president Anisul Huq on workers' salary and recently signed MoU in this regard in the city.

At the meeting, they placed a draft wage for garment workers that included Tk 3000 as basic salary, Tk 1050 as house rent, Tk 300 as medical allowance and Tk 400 as transport and laundry allowances.

Representatives of both the owners and the workers reached a consensus to exclude timekeeper and peon of garment factories from workers' category grade 1 and grade 2.

Talking to the workers' leaders Anisul Huq proposed for an open audit to look into owners' cost and profits before fixing salaries for the garment workers.

He said owners are also inclined to increase workers' salary but they are to think of their capacity, adding that workers' salary should be fixed according to owners' capacity.

"Cutting and making cost has decreased internationally and for that reason a large scale increase in salary is not possible," he added.

"In our country most of the garment factories are of small and medium category, so we have to think that industries can survive and workers do not lose their job," he said.

Former BGMEA vice-president Shahidul Haque, General Secretary of National Garments Workers Federation Amirul Haq Amin, President of Bangladesh Garment Industry Workers Federation Tauhidur Rahman, President of Bangla Garments Workers Federation Kazi Mohammed Ali, General Secretary of National Knit Dying Garments Workers Employees Federation MN Zaman Chowdhury and General Secretary of Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation Babul Akhter were present at the meeting.