The government’s move to amend the Bangladesh Labour Law 2006 conflicts with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards and is unlikely to bring any benefit to the workers, observed legal experts and rights activists here on Friday.Addressing a roundtable discussion, they also demanded the government make an immediate review of the proposed amendments to the law and incorporate the provisions of the ILO conventions before placing it in parliament.
The roundtable was organised by World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), Bangladesh Committee at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU).
In his keynote presentation, WFTU (Bangladesh Committee) convener Wazedul Islam Khan said although the provision for allowing workers to form trade unions is included in the proposed amendment, the requirement for the participation of at least 30 percent of the workers in the trade union makes it virtually impossible to implement it in larger factories.
“We propose that the provision of trade union must be based on slabs — 30 percent participation restriction can be maintained for factories with less than 5,000 workers. But for factories employing larger number of workers, the participation restriction must be reduced to 15-20 percent,” he said.
The amendment must include provision to allow the workers to elect at least 20 percent leaders from the labour movement veterans operating outside the factories, he added.
Wazedul also noted that despite repeated persuasion of the labour organisations, the government has not included any change in the provision on the compensation of deaths and injuries.
The compensation for deaths and injuries must be made as equal as the loss of earning in a lifetime, he said.
More interestingly, the amendment bill okayed by the cabinet excluded the house rent from the definition of wages, Wazedul added.
The representatives from workers organisations in a public hearing organised by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour Affairs raised their concerns in various issues, including those mentioned above and proposed some specific recommendations, but the recommendations were distorted in the final submission by the Labour Minister, he mentioned.
Speaking on the occasion, Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon, MP said: “The law is expected to be passed in the oncoming session of parliament. It’s expected to be discussed on the 14th and the 15th (of July).”
“It appears that the government is amending the law for foreign pressure, not in the interest of the workers. To me, the law (proposed amendment) doesn’t reflect the interest of the workers,” he said.
Menon also noted that parliament is more influenced by the interest of the owners of the industry than that of the workers. “Most of the members in parliament are on the owners side,” he said.
Moderated by Jatiya Sramik Jote president Mesbah Uddin Ahmed, the roundtable discussion was also addressed by former Justice Syed Amirul Islam, Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust (BLAST) executive director Barrister Sarah Hossain and Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) assistant executive director Sultan Uddin Ahmed. – UNB
