The historic May Day was observed across the world, including Bangladesh, on May 1 to establish the rights of workers. The day commemorated the struggle by workers at Chicago in the USA over a century ago to establish the rights of workers to a reasonable period of working hours in a day. On May 1, 1886, 10 workers were killed when police fired on a demonstration in the US city of Chicago near Hay Market demanding an eight-hour rather than a 12-hour working day.
But that sacrifice ultimately led to the authorities yielding to the workers' demand and the eight-hour day has come to be introduced universally. The sacrifice of the workers forced the world leaders to help establish eight-hour working period for the workers instead of 16 hours.
The May Day, which is a celebration of the social and economic
achievements of the international labour movement, sees organised street demonstrations and street marches by millions of working people and their labour unions throughout the world. The working people in the world trace their inspiration to that unique struggle by the Chicago workers that heralded the new age where employers were forced to recognise that their workers were human beings and had basic rights which must be respected and enforced. May Day is celebrated to finish the struggle as well as to promote the requirement of eight-hour work day.
The theme of the day this year has been selected as 'Let us forge workers-owners unity and build Sonar Bangla'.    Â
In Bangladesh, the day was a public holiday. The occasion reminded us of the rights of the workers. We need to commit ourselves to a task of eliminating child labour and to protect the rights of the workers, especially of women workers.
In Bangladesh, workers are not treated fairly. There are huge under-age workers, who are deprived not only of education but also of their natural life. Many families rely on the income generated by their children for survival, so child labour is often highly valued.
According to Labour Force Survey report (2010), Bangladesh has a total of 39 million (3.90 crore) female workers.
According to Domestic Workers' Rights Network (DWRN), there are 2.0 million domestic workers in Bangladesh and most of them are female.
Quoting ILO and BBS statistics, UNICEF said there are 7.4 million working children, aged 5-17 years, in Bangladesh. Some 1.3 million children (aged 5-17) are engaged in hazardous labour. The country has 421,000 child domestic workers, it said.
According to ILO, as many as 93.3 per cent of all working children in the age group of 5-17 years work in the informal sector. Agriculture engages 4.5 million (56.4 per cent children), while the services sector engages 2 million (25.9 per cent), and industry 1.4 million (17.7 per cent). Long hours, low or no wages, poor food, isolation and hazards in the working environment can severely affect children's physical and mental health.
Child labourers are also vulnerable to other abuses such as racial discrimination, maltreatment and sexual abuse. Some work, such as domestic labour, is commonly regarded as an acceptable employment option for children, even though it too poses considerable risks.
The problem of female workers is a bit higher. They work in insecure condition. They even sometimes have to face sexual harassment. It is alleged that women continue to face discrimination and they dominate the low paid jobs.
A BBS statistics said that women are engaged in more or less 58 professions, which include agriculture, domestic work, garment and sewing, poultry, dairy and nursery, production related, day labourer, textile, dyeing and weaving, whole sale and retailer (owner), teaching, salesman and hawker, bidi maker, medical, glass factory and pottery, post office, clerk, supervisor clerk, brick breaker, carpenter, fisheries, caretaker, cleaner, cook, food distributor and others.
As the workers faced problems, the government took up a number of steps for their welfare. Labour courts are in operative to protect workers' rights and enforce laws such as compensation to be paid to workers by employers for the breach of labour laws on their part. Bangladesh is a signatory nation associated to the International Labor Organisation (ILO) and remains committed on the whole to ILO policies. The constitution of Bangladesh guarantees equal rights for men and women. Hence, legal measures have been adopted to protect the rights of the women workers.
Bangladesh enacted the Labour Act in 2006, which includes a chapter on child labour. This new law prohibits employment of children under 14 years of age, as well as prohibiting hazardous forms of child labour for persons under age 18.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment has recently adopted a National Child Labour Elimination Policy 2010, which provides a framework to eradicate all forms of child labour by 2015. There are labour laws to protect the rights of the workers. These included Sramik Kalyan Foundation Ain-2006, Bangladesh Sromo Ain-2006, Sramik Kalyan Foundation Bidhimala-2010, Sishusrom Niroshan Nitimala and Bangladesh Sramo Neeti-2012.   Â
Bangladesh government took a number of steps to eradicate child labour and ensure their welfare. A National Policy on Children was adopted by Bangladesh government. The government also launched National Plan of Action on Child Labour covering all types of hazardous and abusive child labour including child trafficking and child prostitution.
Bangladesh is among the first few countries to sign the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and has already taken steps to implement its provisions. Bangladesh enacted important laws protecting the interests of the children and women. These included Child Marriage Control Act (Draft), 2013, Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Rules, 2013, DNA Law 2014, Domestic Violence Act 2010 and The Children Act-1974.
Steps have been taken to integrate women in the mainstream of economic development of the country. There has been a lot of progress regarding the rights of women and child workers. However, more needs to be done to fulfil the objectives of the May Day.
The writer is a journalist. His e-mail address is sissabuj@yahoo.com
Ensuring rights of women and child workers
Md Sazedul Islam | Published: May 09, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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