The government has failed to formulate the rules to implement the labour law even one year after it has been amended, sources said.
Moreover, it has also missed the revised deadlines as it says it still needs some more time to complete the task, they added.
Formulation of the necessary rules is urgent in order to implement the country's labour law, they said.
There is also an international pressure to amend the law and properly put them into practice to improve and ensure workplace safety and labour standards, especially in the garment sector following the deadly Tazreen fire and Rana Plaza building collapse, they added.
The EU and the US on different occasions pressed the government to formulate the rules for implementation of the amended labour law to ensure workplace safety and labour standards especially in the readymade garment (RMG) sector.
The government also promised to formulate the rules by March and again sought time extension until July last, which also expired, to revive the US GSP facility and retain the same in the EU market, they added.
Earlier, in August last, the government formed a committee aiming at formulating the draft of rules within three months.
The first meeting of the committee was held in January when it shared the draft with the stakeholders.
Labour Ministry sources said the Bangladesh Labour Act of 2006 lacks the required rules even though the Act was passed a couple of years back. The labour laws were amended on three occasions with the latest change taking place in July 2013.
After enacting the Labour Act 2006, the government took a move to formulate the rules and a draft was also drawn up after two years. But it is yet to see the light also, according to them.
They said they prepared the draft rules in line with the previous ones.
When contacted, Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar told the FE: "They are yet to finalise the rules as many stakeholders are involved and time is required to take
Continued to page 7 Col. 1
Continued from page 1 col. 5
their opinions."
Replying to a question, he said they might need some more time to complete it. "We would inform the representatives of the EU and the US and others regarding the additional time requirement in a meeting to be held next month."
"The business community is also dilly-dallying in giving their opinions to make the process lengthy," Sirajul Islam Rony, president of the Bangladesh National Garment Workers Employees League (BNGWEL) alleged.
Once the rules are formulated, the business community has to abide by it, he said adding that is why they want the process to be delayed.
"There are no logical reasons behind the failure in formulating the rules in a year. This is because of lack of the government's sincerity," Mujibur Rahman Bhuiyan, vice chairman of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) opined.
In July, the parliament passed the amended Labour Act Bill 2013 aiming at increasing workers' benefits, simplifying trade union formation, ensuring workers' personal and workplace safety, bringing the workers who are contractually employed under the labour law and launching better work programmes.
Due to absence of the rules, the new provisions that have been incorporated in the amended ones can not be implemented, another labour leader observed.
Citing an example, he said, according to the amended labour law, a safety committee is a must for a factory that has 50 workers or more than that and the committee would be administered according to the rules. Yet there are no rules to implement the labour law, he regretted.
Moreover, unrest is witnessed in the garment sector before each Eid as nothing is made clear either in the labour law or Minimum Wage Structure for the garment workers, he added.
"The issue is also absent in the draft rules despite frequent requests from the rights groups," he alleged.
