Fixing minimum wage for workers is a tricky issue regardless of the sector of the economy they are employed in. Going by experience, the work of settling minimum wage, even for those in the industries including garment workers, who constitute organised section of the workforce, has proved to be very challenging. Since the minimum wage for RMG workers was first fixed in 1986, it's a long history of struggles that they have been waging to arrive at a wage structure that is rational and humane. The struggle has often been violent and, sometimes, bloody. But had there been recognised workers' unions, or an alternative dispute resolution mechanism for settling emerging issues through negotiations with the factory owners, the atmosphere would be more peaceful, the workers happier and industries more productive. But such an ideal condition is yet to be created in the formal sector of the economy, let alone in the informal one. Laws on workers' rights framed both by the governments and the International Labour Organization (ILO) are in existence. But, as always, the problem lies in their implementation. It is the goodwill of the employers, seriousness as well as efficiency on the part of the officials in charge of labour department of the government and the existence of an effective mechanism for dispute resolution that are required for settling the minimum wage for workers once and for all. In the informal sector of the economy, implementation of the laws on workers' minimum wage is more challenging.
Against this backdrop, the interim government and experts in the related field, reportedly, have thought up an ambitious idea of introducing a national minimum wage for all workers and a uniform labour law. The issues came up for discussion at an event organised jointly by a local policy think tank, namely, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and an international donor agency. Attended by the head of the government's labour commission, among others, the discussants at the event suggested, ways to ensure better livelihood, workplace safety and rights of workers.
Notably, in November last year, the interim government formed the Labour Reform Commission in a bid to address various issues related to structural, institutional and operational weaknesses concerning workers' livelihood, rights and their welfare. In this connection, the challenges faced by the Commission in performing its tasks, as admitted by its head at the discussion event in question, say it all. Considering the magnitude of the problems facing the working class, the 90 days' time as allocated for the Commission has proved to be quite inadequate for coming up with a set of watertight recommendations to improve workers' condition. Then comes the issue of the quality of labour rights-related data available and the amount of research done on it previously to work on. Add to that the concern of small businesses in the informal sector which employ some 55 million workers. That is about a quarter of the country's total workforce. But the Commission's work may not appear appealing to the employers of the informal sector. They are hardly willing to do justice to the issues of workers' rights, their workplace safety and so on. In fact, theirs is indeed an area where slavery in the form of enforced or bonded labour exists. Obviously, the talks of job protection, maternity leave, etc., sound fanciful there.
In that case, the Commission should assure the employers in the informal sector of required government assistance so they might extend cooperation to fulfil the former's task. In fine, issues pertinent to workers and employers of both formal and informal sectors of the economy should feature prominently in any recommendations made for the good of workers.
