Amendments to labour law

The contentious issue of the rights of the country's workers has long vitiated the country's international trade. Now the ministry concerned has come up with amendments to the labour law in order to address the problem. To be introduced to parliament in the next session beginning on May 02 for passage, the proposed amendments are expected to address most of the concerns of the country's trading partners and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), hopes State Minister for Labour and Employment Md Nazrul Islam Chowdhury. Although he claims that his ministry is not concerned about US and EU action plan, the fact is that the two destinations of Bangladesh readymade garments, 85 per cent of the total foreign exchange earner, have to be appeased by meeting their demands. The RMG industry has flourished on cheap labour and gross irregularities in terms of employment, wage structure, overtime and other benefits. Most galling is the denial of the right to trade unionism in this sector.

But it would be a travesty of truth if the fact is not admitted that the RMG has come a long way from the time of Rana Plaza tragedy. Thanks to the initiatives by the Alliance and Accord --- two international platforms of global apparel brands, retailers and rights groups of North America and Europe, Bangladesh now boasts the greatest number of green factories in the world. The country is now home to a total of 233 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified factories with the latest addition of 29. What is particularly gratifying is that factories from other industries and sectors, apart from garments and textile, such as tannery and leather goods, tea, cement, plastic, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, tiles and ceramic have been nominated for the 'Green Factory Award-2023'. This particularly positive development added exultation to the celebrating of the National Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Day observed on Sunday last.

Evidently, this progress made on the occupational safety front has not been matched by the welfare of workers. Labour exploitation is random, particularly in the RMG sector. There are garment workers without regular employment and in the very fact of absence of regularisation lies the seed of exploitation. If there were labour unions, they could bargain for such workers. Unless labour unionismis allowed, even if it is in limited form, this kind of exploitation will continue. If the amendments now proposed take care of such issues, well and good; if not, the RMG sector will not find a smooth sailing. In this case, the international buyers also have a responsibility to share in the burden of transition of garment units to green factories by paying higher prices for apparel from Bangladesh.

Well, if workers of the formal sector are not allowed to enjoy the rights they deserve, what about those in the unregistered factories and units in the private and informal sector? Sure enough, workers there have to work mostly under the looming threat of occupational hazards. Those are poles apart from the LEED-certified green factories. Inspector general of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment (DIFE) puts the number of such unregistered factories at 0.22 million and 1,148 of those were sued for non-compliance of regulations in 2022-23. This speaks volumes for the mismanagement of the sector. Let the amendments bring some sanity in productive sectors by ensuring at least the basic rights of workers.