The government will form a wage board soon to set new pay for garment workers, with a gazette notification expected this month, Labour and Employment Secretary Md Abdur Rahman Tarafder has said.

He told the state-run news agency BSS that the process of nominating representatives from the workers' and employers' sides is under way, and that the Ministry of Labour and Employment will issue the gazette once the nominations arrive, after which the board will start work.

The board will have a chairman, an independent member, one workers' representative and one employers' representative. Additional members representing the relevant industry, one from each side, will be added; for ready-made garments, those seats will go to the RMG sector.

Tarafder said wage decisions would weigh Bangladesh's overall economic situation, pay rates in neighbouring countries and conditions inside factories, and stressed that the ministry would not fix the amount unilaterally by administrative order.

He said the Department of Labour has already been told to begin forming the board and has asked workers and employers to name their representatives.

On the continuing labour unrest, he said the government takes a positive view of the workers' demands and is in regular dialogue with them, and that labour leaders have been kept informed. Tripartite talks on the labour rules, involving workers, employers and the government, are also continuing.

A meeting of the National Tripartite Consultative Council is due on 27 October, chaired by the labour minister, to discuss the wage board and the labour rules.

Garment workers have been pressing for a minimum monthly wage of Tk 30,000, and recent protests over pay have at times turned violent. The secretary said the government would stay alert so that outside interest groups could not stir unrest during the protests.