The ‘Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Bill, 2013’ will be passed in Parliament the next week. Revealing this, chairman of the Standing Committee on Labour and Employment Ministry Israfil Alam MP, said the new law will be an ideal one to protect the interest and rights of the workers and ensure their safety.
He was addressing a roundtable discussion on ‘Compensation for the decased and injured workers in workplaces: Necessary amendment to existing laws’ held at the Cirdap auditorium.
Jointly organised by Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) and Safety and Rights Society, the programme was presided over by Justice Md Awlad Ali.
Sekander Ali Mina, Executive Director of Safety and Rights Society, and Md Barkat Ali, Assistant Director of BLAST, presented keynote papers on the topic while Advocate Jotirmoy Barua another on insurance for the workers.
The government on June 5 placed the bill in Parliament. Later, it was sent to the Standing Committee on Labour and Employment Ministry for scrutiny.
Addressing the roundtable discussion as the chief guest, Israfil said in the proposed law, the group insurance of the workers has been made mandatory for companies with minimum 100 workers.
Mentioning that there is no provision of compensation in the existing law in case of the closure of a factory, the JS watchdog chief said this has been included in the proposed law.
Referring to the tragic Rana Plaza collapse that killed over 1100 people, he said nine people concerned have so far been suspended in this connection.
Israfil underscored the need for strengthening the worker movement for proper implementation of the labour law.
Honorary executive director of BLAST Sara Hossain gave the opening speech at discussion moderated by Nejera Kori coordinator Khushi Kabir.
Among others, Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal general secretary Jafarul Hasan, executive director of Bangladesh Centre for Workers Solidarity Kalpana Akhter, Advocate Selim Ahsan Khan and Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) teacher MA Salam addressed the programme.
