Govt nods EPZ TU bill ignoring lone voice of dissent

‘Workers organization’ changed to ‘workers welfare society’
The Cabinet on Monday approved a bill seeking amendment to the Export Processing Zone Workers Association and Industrial Relations Act 2004 and changing the term ‘workers organization’ to ‘workers welfare society’.
The regular cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Cabinet Division, also approved in principle the Chartered Secretaries Bill 2009.
The EPZ Workers Association and Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2009 will be tabled in the Jatiya Sangsad in its next session for enactment, the prime minister’s press secretary, Abul Kalam Azad, told New Age.
The bill was approved despite the opposition of a minister, who is also a labour leader, and in response to continuous pressure from different national and international quarters for introduction of trade unionism in the EPZs, said meeting sources.
The entrepreneurs in the EPZs, however, are opposing the establishment of their workers’ right to trade unionism.
‘If the bill is enacted after renaming the “workers association” as “workers welfare society”, it will curtail the limited rights that the EPZ workers are enjoying under the 2004 Act instead of providing them with the right to trade unionism to ensure healthy industrial relations and a good working atmosphere,’ the minister, who opposed the bill, was quoted by another minister to have told the meeting.
The prime minister, however, observed that the bill would uphold the workers’ interest and upgrade their status, said the sources.
The BNP-led alliance government on 18 July, 2004 enacted the EPZ Workers Association and Industrial Relations Act 2004 in the face of mounting pressure from various national and international quarters for allowing the EPZ workers to form trade unions.
Section 13 of the 2004 Act empowered the workers to form ‘workers association’ at each industrial unit in the EPZs with effect from 1 November, 2006 to deal with industrial relations and disputes.
Section 45 empowers the workers association to represent the workers as a collective bargaining agent in the industrial unit.
Chapter VI of the Act stipulates the establishment of the Labour Tribunal and Labour Appellate Tribunal to deal with the disputes between EPZ workers and entrepreneurs.
As no such tribunal has yet been established yet, the High Court on 25 August, 2008 issued a rule on the government to explain in four weeks why it would not be directed to form the Labour Tribunal and Labour Appellate Tribunal according to the Act.
The government, however, is yet to reply to the rule, said court sources.
Briefing the newsmen after the Cabinet meeting, Abul Kalam Azad said that the Chartered Secretaries Bill was approved for the enactment of a law to make provisions for the establishment of an institute named the Chartered Secretaries Institute. The institute, a 15-member statutory body, will have associate and fellow members.
Azad said that apart from this two separate reports — on Bangladesh’s participation in the 15th NAM Summit in Egypt last July and the 17th conference of the education ministers from the Commonwealth countries in Kuala Lumpur — were placed at the Cabinet meeting.
Meeting sources said that the agriculture minister, Matia Chowdhury, raised the issue of the price-hike of daily essentials. She pointed out to commerce minister Faruk Khan that his ministry would have to take the initiative to ensure reduction of the prices of basic food items. ‘Price of daily essentials cannot be controlled only by voicing threats,’ she was quoted as saying.
The Cabinet also discussed the outcome of the meeting between Sheikh Hasina and Kasit Priomya, Thailand’s foreign minister.
Hasina asked foreign minister Dipu Moni to take appropriate measures to resolve the dispute between Bangladesh and Myanmar on the maritime boundary through discussion, said sources.
Insiders said the state minister for the liberation war affairs, AB Tazul Islam, raised an allegation that most scholarships go to officials of the administrative cadre. He suggested that the government should ensure that the university teachers, instead of officials only, could get the Commonwealth Scholarship.

Courtesy of NewAgebd