There were mixed reactions to the new labour law amendments, with the apparel manufacturers and garments workers expressing diverging views. Apparel manufacturers welcomed the newly amended labour law but the trade union leaders and garment workers expressed their concern,
terming it “anti-worker” and “employer friendly”.According to the trade union leaders, amendments to the law were more in favour of employers than workers in the readymade garments (RMG) sector. These mostly serve the employers’ interests, they complained. Many provisions have been included in the draft amendment or withdrawn from the original law through the imposition of some restraints on the workers’ rights to effective trade unionism and bargaining capacity, they said.
Trade union and RMG leaders rejected the amended labour law passed by Parliament on Monday, saying that the new law ignored the rights of factory workers, in particular the garment workers. They said that the new law fastened the workers even more tightly to protect the interests of the factory owners which, they said, would jeopardize the objectives of the amendment to the Labour Law 2006.
When asked whether they would organise any action programme, Garment Workers’ Trade Union leader Monto Ghose replied that they were waiting for the full text and gazette notifications of the law. “After going through the documents, we will sit down together to decide the next course of action,” said the trade union leader, adding that it did not fulfil any of the expectations of the workers barring the provision for forming the trade unions.
“We could not express our protest because of the volatile political situation centring on the war crimes tribunal verdicts… We will formally express our reaction as soon as the situation becomes calm,” said Monto Ghose.
Parliament passed the Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Bill 2013 on Monday, incorporating some provisions. These include allowing formation of trade unions without the factory owners being informed.
The move to amend the Labour Act came to make the law befitting for the current time, with a view to retaining the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) facility in the US and the European Union (EU) markets. The US suspended the GSP to Bangladesh last month over shortcomings in safety and labour standards, while the EU has threatened similar action.
After suspension of the GSP facility by the US, the Cabinet in its recent meeting decided to make necessary changes again in the proposed amendment to the labour law. Moreover, the EU and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) have recently suggested necessary changes to the labour law. The new law has seen amendments to a total of 87 sections of the Labour Act 2006. Labour and employment minister Raziuddin
Ahmed Razu moved the bill, which was later passed in voice vote.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has termed the amendment to the labour law a “timely initiative”, saying it has incorporated a good number of provisions to protect workers’ rights.
Some provisions, such as formation of trade unions, have been made easier in the new bill, the apparel apex body said in a statement on Tuesday. “You will find a lot of things in the new law that will help establish workers’ rights and develop the industry as a whole,” said former BGMEA president Salam Murshedy.
“But you have to implement the things slowly and consciously with patience, so that everyone is benefited and there is sustainable development,” said Murshedy. The trade body hailed the provision of incorporating 10 per cent women representatives in the trade union executive committee if the factory workforce has 20 per cent women, pointing out that 80 per cent of the garments workers are women.
The mandatory group insurance policy, permanent health centre incorporated in the new bill, will ensure workers’ rights, said the apex trade body.
But the amendments to the labour law have evoked strong criticism in both local and international arenas, as different rights groups have termed it an ‘anti-worker’ and ‘pro-employer’ one.
Both the local and international rights groups called on Bangladesh’s donors and international investors to press the government to make further amendments to the law to fully ensure workers’ rights to form unions, bargain collectively, and participate in workplace decisions on safety. Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday said amendments to Bangladesh’s labour law would ensure some improvements, but these still fall far short of protecting workers’ rights and meeting international standards. “The Bangladesh government desperately wants to move the spotlight away from the Rana Plaza disaster, so it is not surprising it is now trying to show that it belatedly cares about workers’ rights,” said Human Rights Watch deputy director Phil Robertson in a statement.
The provisions for government control over unions’ access to foreign funding, membership requirements for forming a union, and gratuity and maternity leave were also severely criticized by trade union leaders. They also criticised the provision of transfer of five per cent profits of companies to the workers’ welfare fund. The law, industry sources said, should not be based on a single sector; rather it should be based on all workers and across industry.
The amended law did not at all consider the proposals of the trade unions of Bangladesh, the international trade unions or the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to allow all workers to form and join trade unions as per ILO conventions 87 and 98, they pointed out.
“The requirement of 30 per cent membership for forming a union is unacceptable where there are more than 10, 20, 30 or 40 thousand workers working in a single factory,” said Bangladesh Centre for Workers’ Solidarity (BCWS) executive director Kalpana Akhter while talking to The Independent.
The revised Labour Act could also have a major negative impact on unions by expanding government control over unions’ access to foreign funding. The law would require prior approval from the labour and employment ministry before either trade unions or employers’ organisations could receive “technical, technological, health and safety and financial support” from international sources.
The new labour law has also empowered the factory owners as it allows them to sack a worker who is absent at his or her workplace continuously for more than 10 days, said the BCWS director, adding that such a provision would further bolster factory owners instead of workers.
Regarding maternity leave, Karmojibi Nari founding president Shirin Akhter said it is very unfortunate that there are two discriminatory laws, which has not been resolved in the new law. “Such kind of discrimination is not acceptable,” she added.
Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation president Nazma Akter also criticised the new law, saying that it has been passed to serve the interests of the employers rather than for protecting the interests of workers. She expressed her dissatisfaction that no provision had been included in the amendment regarding maternity leave of female workers for six months or any annual increment for all categories of workers.
She dubbed the law undemocratic and anti-worker, and said this has been done to protect the interests of the employers, the leaders of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers (BGMEA) and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters (BKMEA). “It was done as desired and instructed by leaders of BGMEA and BKMEA,” she added.
-With The Independent input
