Politicians and labour leaders on Saturday demanded further amendment to the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 scrapping the undemocratic provisions made through the latest amendment to the law recently.
The bill parliament passed on July 15 amending the 2006 act did not guarantee the rights of workers rather protected the interests of the owners of mills and factories, they said at a seminar at the central office of the Communist Party of Bangladesh.
The Communist Party of Bangladesh and the Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal jointed organised the seminar on the amended labour law and the democratic rights of workers.
Samajtantrik Sramik Front general secretary Razequzzaman Ratan read out the keynote paper at the seminar, saying that the ruling Awami League had pledged to enact a democratic labour law scrapping the undemocratic sections of the 2006 act, enacted by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance government.
The government betrayed the workers by amending the law to protect the interests of the owners instead of ensuring the workers’ rights, he said.
The amended law would not ensure the workers’ rights to trade union and to elect their leaders at the mills and factories, Razekuzzaman said adding that the amendment contradicted the International Labour Law.
The amendment also kept the provision of outsourcing of workers in violation of the International Labour Law, he said.
The government did not entertain the proposal made by the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad, the combine of labour organisations in the country, for the amendment to the law, he said.
Labour leader Manzurul Ahsan Khan called for a united labour movement in the country to compel the government to drop the undemocratic sections of the amended labour law.
The government amended the law to satisfy the donors only, Manzurul said.
Trade Union Centre president Shahidullah Chowdhury said that the workers were the most deprived as they were getting low wages, though they were contributing much in the national economy.
Labour leader Safiuddin Ahmed said that without movements the rights of the workers would not be realised.
Trade Union Centre general secretary Wajed-ul Islam Khan said that the system for formation of trade unions at mills and factories would be more difficult under the amended law.
It would be difficult to form trade union after taking consent of the 30 per cent of the total workers of the factory to introduce trade unionism, he said.
Labour leader Chowdhury Ashikul Alam said that the amended law indicated that the government was not democratic and workers’ friendly.
Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies executive director Sultan Uddin Ahmed said that the amended law would serve the purposes of the owners only.
Chaired by BSD general secretary Khalequzzaman, the seminar was conducted by labour leader Aslam Khan.
-With New Age input
http://newagebd.com/detail.php?date=2013-08-04&nid=59879#.Uf1hVawnncs
