Rules Under Labour Act
Government misses 3rd deadline for finalisation
The government has again failed to finalise rules under the labour act by the time it promised as the third deadline ended on July 31. Labour ministry officials said now they were working on the draft targeting the month of September.
A source involved with the process told New Age that the consultation process with the different stakeholders on the draft completed but the finalisation was being delayed due to some recent proposals put forward by mobile telecom operators seeking changes in the definition of workers and workers’ participation in company’s profit.
Labour rights groups said that the process might be delayed due to pressure of different business groups.
If the rules are finalised, the business groups will have to comply with the rules, they said.
Employers, however, said that formulation of rules under the labour act would be helpful for the entrepreneurs and they also wanted completion of the process within the shortest possible time.
Parliament passed the amended labour law on July 15 last year in the face of domestic and international pressure following the collapse of Rana Plaza building on April 24 that killed more than 1,100 people, mostly garment workers.
After the tragedy the European Union, the International Labour Organisation and the authorities of Bangladesh launched an initiative known as the Sustainability Compact on July 8.
At the same time the US suspended generalised system of preferences for Bangladesh due to poor working condition and provided 16-point action plan for reviving the facilities.
Reforming the labour law and effective implementation and enforcement of the law were key requirements for both the initiatives.
In August last year, the government formed two committees to formulate the rules and regulations, promising to finalise the task within three months.
One was rules and regulations’ formulating committee led by the labour secretary and another was a five-member working committee led by deputy secretary Md Aminul Islam.
In March this year the labour ministry had set a new deadline and said the draft would be finalised by April as the consultation process with the different stakeholders on the draft was going on.
After missing the second deadline the ministry promised to the EU compact and the United States Trade Representative to do the job by July.
‘The process is going on and it will take time as the task is not so easy. And many sectors are involved in the process,’ labour secretary Mikail Shipar told reporters last week.
Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies assistant executive director Sultan Uddin Ahmed, also a member of the government-formed working committee, told New Age that they had finalised the draft and submitted to the ministry three months ago.
The proposals put forward by the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh may be a cause for the delay in the process as the government is searching ways to incorporate the proposals in the draft, he said.
‘I think there might be influence of business groups for the delay. Once the rules are finalised, they will have to comply with the rules,’ Sultan said.
He said that due to the absence of rules workers were deprived of their rights and employers were enjoying unilateral benefits.
The amendment to the labour law has inserted a new section which says ‘where in any factory, 50 or more workers are employed, there shall be a Safety Committee formed and functioned in the manner prescribed by the rule’.
As the rules are yet to be finalised, the section is not implemented, he said.
ANM Saifuddin, former director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said that it was not true that employers were enjoying benefits due to the absence of the rules.
‘We also want finalisation of the rules,’ he said.
Saifuddin said after finalisation of the rules ambiguity in the implementation of some laws would be removed and it would be helpful for employers.
-With New Age input
