Govt has to amend labour law further, ensure full execution

The government will have to amend the existing labour law further and ensure its full implementation in all sectors, irrespective of formal or informal, to get the GSP-plus facility in the European Union (EU), said participants at a dialogue on Tuesday.

They also said the labour law improvement and its full implementation is also crucial to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030.

Bangladesh has fulfilled all the three criteria for graduation from the status of least developed country (LDC) to middle-income country, and its labour standards should also be improved in line with the graduation, they added.

Their observations and recommendations came at a public dialogue titled 'Emerging Labour Standard (ELS) Demands in the Era of LDC Graduation and SDG Implementation', organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in the capital.

State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque was the chief guest at the dialogue, chaired by CPD Distinguished Fellow Mustafizur Rahman.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Md Siddiqur Rahman, Bangladesh Trade Union Kendra General Secretary Wajedul Islam Khan, International Labour Organisation (ILO) Bangladesh Country Office Deputy Director Gagan Rajbhandari, Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) Executive Director (ED) Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, among others, spoke on the occasion.

"GSP-plus conditionalities are binding commitments for a beneficiary country in contrast to SDG targets, which are voluntary in nature. Implementation of GSP-plus conditionalities needs to take right-based approach, while SDG-8 targets need adopting more commercial approach," CPD Research Director Khondaker Golam Moazzem said in his keynote paper.

A well-coordinated approach could be undertaken to address the ELS under the SDG framework, and the implementation of SDG-linked ELS approach could better prepare Bangladesh to handle the post-LDC challenges. Measures in regulatory, institutional and implementation stages are needed in this regard, he also said.

Bangladesh has singed 26 ILO Conventions out of 27 except Convention 138, related to 'minimum age for admission to employment'.

He suggested the government to initiate informal discussions with the stakeholders concerned about ratification of Convention 138, saying all 27 ILO Conventions need to be ratified for getting GSP-plus facilities. There should also be no barrier in the labour law that confronts any of the ILO Conventions.

An additional resource worth US$ 68 billion would be needed for the implementation of SDG-8 goals, he added. CPD Distinguished Fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya said SDG is a global issue, and Bangladesh has to try to internalise the global agenda in the country's context.

"It is very clear that, this is the era of rising protectionism and unilateral trade measures, where the multilateral rules are being flouted. It is the era when the WTO (World Trade Organisation) is paralysed. So, on the one hand bilateral and on the other hand some regional standards will become more important than the multilateral issues."

Terming the coordination within the government 'very critical', he stressed ensuring coordination among the ministries, as a number of them are involved (in this situation).

The SDG-implementing agencies and stakeholders in Bangladesh are hardly aware of emerging labour standard issues, he said, suggesting raising awareness and effective coordination to achieve the global agenda by 2030.

The BILS ED focused on breaking out the limit of discussion and taking into consideration only one sector.

Though the labour law clearly mentioned about paying the living wage, not the minimum wages, the government has no plan about paying living wage, he said.

Emphasising adopting real perception and interpretation about forced labour, he suggested that everyone should be incorporated in the policy-making, so that they could do their job with full dignity and maintaining labour standards.

Mr Rajbhandary said although SDG-8 in particular is fundamental to achievement of economic growth and social inclusion, all of the SDG are linked with workplace and employment to some degrees.

"Meeting the SDG would transform countless lives, and I must praise Bangladesh for its proactive and inclusive approach to meeting these goals."

The graduation from LDC would of course bring new challenges with it, as it is the potential erosion of trade preferences, he also said.

"To gain the EU's GSP-plus benefit Bangladesh will need to ratify and show compliance with ILO's 27 Conventions."

The state minister for labour said Bangladesh has become a proud global partner of equality of people's rights in all spheres of life through signing the major international conventions and agreements on human rights, labour rights, gender rights and equality issues.

"Except the ILO Convention 138, Bangladesh has ratified all GSP-plus conventions. Since it is one of the pre-conditions to be eligible for GSP-plus, we will initiate discussions with the stakeholders concerned regarding the possibility of ratification of this convention as well."

Full compliance with international standards in all the categories of factories would take time, as establishing harmonised labour practices in all units would not be possible unless their owners take initiatives in this regard, he added.

The BGMEA president said, "Accord and Alliance have been monitoring workplace safely in the country's RMG factories for the last five years, and now Bangladeshi entrepreneurs are becoming capable of monitoring their factory and business."

"Bangladesh will enjoy the existing GSP facility for the next 10 years. So there is no need to be worried. We will achieve the required standards within the time," he noted.

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