ILO urges govt to end GPEU case sans delay

The Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA) of the International Labour Organization (ILO) has urged the government of Bangladesh to ensure that the case of Grameenphone Employees Union (GPEU) pending before a labour court in Dhaka is concluded without further delay.

It also requested the government to provide information on the status and outcome of the case to the ILO committee.

It further requested the government to take all the necessary measures to ensure that the procedures of examination of complaints of anti-union discrimination are prompt and impartial and considered as such by the parties concerned.

ILO committee made the recommendations during its session held on November 5 last at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. A report of the committee has been published on the website of the ILO.

Adeeba Zerin Chowdhury, the Communication Secretary of the Grameenphone Employees Union (GPEU) who was allegedly dismissed on anti-union grounds, told the FE that the GPEU applied for registration on July 23, 2012 and the next day the management unlawfully terminated nearly 200 union members, including her and six other union leaders, to stop the movement.

The company then offered the dismissed persons an exit package and asked them to sign resignation letters, which was accepted by all but only the three union leaders, she added.

Ms Chowdhury told the FE that it is very regrettable that a labour court in Bangladesh cannot start hearing on the subject-matter of a case even in 12 years of its filing. "We are getting affected by this slowness of our justice system."

The ILO committee notes the extremely slow pace of justice in handling the complaint of Ms Chowdhury against her employer for anti-union dismissal.

It notes that the account of the government indicates that after 12 years, the case is still pending, partly due to the continuous legal actions taken by the employer to obstruct the advancement of the proceedings.

The Committee recalls that "cases concerning anti-union discrimination contrary to Convention No. 98 should be examined rapidly, so that the necessary remedies can be really effective".

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