The current interim government is moving forward to amend the ‘Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006’ aiming to meet the 18-point demand of the workers and align the country’s labour laws with the ILO standards.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment has already prepared a draft which will be presented at the Governing Body meeting of International Labour Organisation (ILO) during its 353rd session, scheduled to be held in Geneva of Switzerland from 10 March to 20 March.
The Bangladesh delegation, headed by Labour and Employment Adviser Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain, will leave the country for the ILO meeting tomorrow. After the delegation returns home, the draft will be placed in the meeting of the Council of Advisers for approval.
AHM Shafiquzzaman, secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, who will join the ILO session as a member of the Bangladesh delegation, said that they are ready to present the finalised draft of the labour law amendment at the ILO governing body meeting.
He also said that they are working on fulfilling the 18-point demand committed to the workers in September 2024. All the demands have already been met, except for two – amending the labour law and reviewing annual increments. The law is going to be amended soon, he added.
Bangladesh is committed to amending to the labour law by this March. This commitment was made during the ILO 352nd session held in Geneva in October 2024. However, it will not be possible to amend the law within this March.
The ministry sources said that after the delegation returns home, the draft of the amended labour law will be placed in the meeting of the Council of Advisers for approval after completing the necessary preparations. Later, the labour law amendment will be issued as an ordinance. So it will take a little time to complete the entire work.
At the last ILO meeting, Law Adviser Asif Nazrul committed to ending assaults and harassment of workers in the workplace. The-then Labour and Employment Adviser Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan had also joined the ILO’s last session.
The interim government had restructured the tripartite committee to prepare the draft of proposed amendments to the ‘Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006’. A gazette notification was issued in this regard on 27 November 2024. The 17-member committee included government officials, and representatives from employers’ and workers’ groups.
The tripartite committee has already prepared the draft. It was alleged that the workers in the garment sector were mainly considered in the draft without keeping in mind workers of the other sectors. Even the definition of worker was not properly highlighted.
A trade union leader said that there are over 76 million workers both in the formal and informal sectors in the country. All the workers should be kept in mind while amending the labour law.
Talking to the Daily Sun, Alam Hossain, director of Bangladesh Occupational Health, Safety and Environment Foundation (OSHE Foundation), a Dhaka-based organisation working on labour issues, said that they welcome the government’s move to amend the labour law.
He, however, said that they demanded separate laws for different sectors of the workers. “We believe that the current interim government will amend the law considering specific labour issues and international standards,” he said.
Chief Adviser Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus in a recent meeting asked the officials concerned of the Ministry of Labour and Employment to reform the country’s labour law to meet international standards for improving the living conditions of millions of labourers employed in different sectors. He also asked for ensuring insurance coverage and healthcare benefits for workers.
International bodies like the European Union, ILO and the US government have been urging Bangladesh to amend the labour law, easing trade union rules, simplifying union registration and lowering the worker threshold required to form a union.
Currently, forming a union in a garment factory requires the consensus and signatures of 20% workers. Union leaders and international bodies advocate lowering this threshold to 5-10%.
The 2006 labour law was amended in 2013. The law was further amended in 2018. In 2015, labour rules were formulated.
At the 108th session of the ILO in 2019, labour representatives from Italy, Japan, South Africa, Pakistan and Brazil called for an inquiry commission against the government of Bangladesh. In that time, Bangladesh was accused of failing to uphold some sections of ILO conventions.
In 2020, the ILO asked Bangladesh to develop a time-bound roadmap to resolve the issues raised by the complainants. Bangladesh subsequently prepared a roadmap focusing on four priority areas, including labour law reform.
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