Labour rights being violated

Economist Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya said on Monday that labour rights are being violated in Bangladesh due to the lagging of the country's labour laws compared to the international laws.

"We have sat with the labour leaders today. They informed us that the country's labourers who kept role in economic development in Bangladesh have not got equitable share of wages and other benefits in the last one decade," said Dr Debapriya, chief of the government's white paper preparation committee.

Actually, they informed us that why the labour do not get proper benefits from the owners despite economic development of the country, Dr Debapriya said.

The White Paper Committee on the state of the country's economy briefed journalists after holding a meeting with the leaders of the country's various labour unions held at the Planning Commission in Dhaka.

Identifying the reasons for such injustice, he said the labour leaders alleged that the wages of the labourers and workers of Bangladesh are not enough and time-befitting, he said.

Quoting labour leaders, Dr Debapriya said the basic salary, social security measures like decent accommodation and maternity leave were not enough for boosting safety and security of the workers.

"The labour leaders informed us that they are not being able to conduct trade union activities flawlessly to ensure their just rights," Mr Debapriya, also a distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), told reporters.

He said the labour leaders informed that there is a lack of measures for familiarising the works of the labourers with the AI and other advanced technologies in line with the changing world and growing new economy.

When asked about anything findings they have so far got, Mr Debapriya said they are still on the consultation stage and acquiring the information and cross-checking those with different section of the society.

Then they will write the white paper with the three-month timeframe, the interim government has allowed, he added.

Dr Debapriya added that the work on preparing the white paper is going on as the committee sat with young entrepreneurs on Sunday and they highlighted their potentials and barriers.

Responding to a query, he told journalists that they have at first fixed the terms of reference of the committee and then they have distributed the work among the committee members according to their special expertise.

They have already discussed with the government agencies concerned who deal with data, discussed with various social communities like business entrepreneurs and labour leaders, the economist said.

Besides, he said sector-wise discussions would be held in the coming days, including with the foreign investors, development partners and then those available data would be incorporated in the report.

Dr Debapriya said they would hold three town-hall meetings in Chattogram, Rajshahi and Sylhet. After incorporating all the data from such parleys, the committee would frame a draft report and thus move forward keeping ahead the timeframe of three months.

Replying to another question, he said that they are considering the findings and outcomes of various researches in different fields while carrying forward their work side by side they have already heard from the concerned government agencies to understand their problems. After preparing the draft report, he said it would be shared with the Chief Adviser and then with the media, Dr Debapriya said.

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