Ninety per cent of garment workers in Bangladesh will be brought under the digital wage system by 2021 as part of a government initiative.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) is gradually bringing workers under the cashless payment system, which now includes 1.5 million workers under it, while another 2.6 million are set to join.

“We want to go for cashless transaction to pay wages to workers to upgrade them to next level,’’ said BGMEA president Rubana Huq at the Bangladesh Digital Wage Summit in Dhaka recently.

The Access to Information (a2i) Programme of ICT Division supported by Cabinet Division and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) of United Nations Capital Development Fund jointly organised the summit.

At the event, the government and the private sector committed to working together to solve the challenges in ensuring all garment factories pay their workers digitally, according to a press release from the organisers.

The summit discussed issues faced in making cash payments for both the garment employees and manufacturers, and how digital payments are beneficial for both parties, in terms of security, efficiency, empowerment and independence.

When payrolls got digitalised, garment factories recorded a 53 per cent savings in staff time for their administration and finance teams. Wage digitalisation also improved the likelihood of women to participate in household decisions related to spending and savings by 15 per cent, according to Bangladesh media reports.

Huq said BGMEA would teach workers about the operation of digital wage system to empower them.

Published On : 22-11-2019

Source : Fibre 2 Fashion