Cellular phone operators in the country have been incorporated in the labour law aimed at securing employee’s job and other benefits, said officials.
They said the law would secure the job of the employees of the cellular phone operators, which was very much fragile due to the absence of any legal obligation. Now, the employees of the operators would also get opportunity to form trade union as well as claim 5 per cent share against the total profit, they added.
Talking to the BSS, Mikail Shipar, secretary of labour and employment ministry, said they had taken the decision to protect the rights of employees of cellular phone operators by the labour law so they (operators) could not terminate any employee without any benefit.
‘Now, the employees of the cellular phone operators would enjoy job security and other benefits like others sectors covered by the labour law,’ he added.
Shipar informed the gazette will be published next week.
‘After the gazette notification, the law will be enacted.’
The parliament on July 15 passed the ‘Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Bill, 2013’ to make the existing law time befitting for workers’ welfare.
The secretary said they would formulate rules immediately after notifying the gazette to address every issue specifically.
‘The operators have to formulate own service rules within six months after the gazette notification and it needs to be approved by the government,’ he added.
Shipar said, ‘They (operators) have to abide by the law if they run their business in the country.’
Officials said the government had taken the initiative of incorporating the operators in the law against the backdrop of frequent job cut in the name of ‘reduction in expenditure’.
In the last couples of years, Banglalink, Grameenphone, Robi, Airtel and Citcell cut huge number of jobs without any notice. Recently, few employees of Robi filed case against the operator for job cut while the employee of Banglalink alleged that the operator is trimming employee’s facilities without any notice and moving toward new job cut.
To make the law time-befitting, a total of 87 sections of the 2006 labour law, first of its kind in the country, have been amended. According to the amendments, employees would no longer need approval from factory owners to form trade unions.
With the passage of the bill, workers would just need to apply to the labour directorate for authorisation. The amendment also allows trade unions to be formed in different administrative wings of a factory, something not permitted under the existing law.
The law stipulates that 5 per cent of annual profit be deposited in provident and welfare funds. It also has the provision of paying compensation to the workers in case of their death, termination from services and accidental deaths during duty hours.
-With New Age input
