After eight days of labour unrest, the government yesterday announced a revised pay structure for the garment sector, with a slight increase in both basic and gross wages in six of the seven grades.

The gross hike ranges from a token Tk 15 to a modest Tk 747, effective from December last year and to be adjusted from February.

In the new pay scale, which comes after years, the annual increment has been fixed at 5 percent.

Workers, protesting since January 6, had been demanding pay raise in three grades in particular — grade 3, 4 and 5.

Yesterday’s decision came following directives from the prime minister after an eventful day.

Even as a tripartite committee held almost a daylong meeting to reach a consensus on the hike, RMG workers continued their protest. On the other hand, factory owners threatened to shut down their units if the protestors did not go back to work.

The meeting of the 20-member committee, which has representation of workers, owners as well as the government, approved wage increase in grade 1-6.

The gross pay in grade 7 remains unchanged at Tk 8,000, which was Tk 5,300 in the previous pay structure announced in 2013.

The government will publish a new gazette on the revised wage in the next three to four days, said Labour and Employment Secretary Afroza Khan, who heads the tripartite committee.

She added that no revision was needed for grade 7 workers.

The committee, formed on January 9, had been considering pay hikes in the three “most problematic” grades — 3, 4 and 5.

But at a meeting at the Gono Bhaban on Saturday night, Sheikh Hasina instructed officials to revise the latest pay structure, originally announced in September last year, for all grades, sources said.

The workers will receive the arrear with their pay for February, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi told reporters after the meeting.

“We were mainly concerned about the pay in grade 3, 4 and 5. But we eventually revised the wages in six grades so workers get a little more,” he said, announcing the decision at a press conference at the ministry.

Amirul Haque Amin, president of the National Garment Workers Federation, said, “We welcome the revision and the new wage structure.”

He was speaking on behalf of the trade union leaders who are on the tripartite committee.

Reactions among the workers were mixed.