82pc of construction labourers work more than 8 hours a day
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Kamrun Nahar
At least 82.33 per cent of the country's construction workers work more than eight hours a day while only the masons work less than 10 hours, says a study report. It also said among the various categories of workers in the sector assistants to masons, painters, sanitary and mosaic workers and piling labourers have to work about 12 hours a day and only 17.33 per cent of construction workers work eight hours a day. Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) conducted the survey on 'Condition of Workers Employed in the Construction Sector : An Overview' in 2007 among 566 sample construction workers from 10 districts including six divisional headquaters. Forty-seven per cent painters get between Tk 101 and 150, 1.2 per cent get more than Tk 200 a day. Fifty per cent of the masons get between Tk 201 and 250 while 10 per cent get more than Tk 250. At least 77 per cent construction workers have to work extra hours as 42.66 per cent of them think it a normal practice while 28 per cent workers work if their duty is pending. But the highest 29.33 per cent workers work under pressure from the contractor, or the team leader or the owner without payment. Workers in the country earn on an average Tk 3500 a month while the highest number of workers earn Tk 3000. In the construction sector 28.3 per cent workers earn between Tk 2001 and 3000 a month, 26 per cent earn as much as Tk 2000 or below that and 6.7 per cent who are mainly masons, piling and mosaic workers earn between Tk 6000 and 8000 a month. Only 1.9 per cent construction workers, mainly masons and painters, earn more than Tk 8000 a month. Besides, there are discrimination of wages between various sub-sectors of labourers of the construction sector. The study shows that the highest 32.69 per cent day labourer in the sector get from Tk 101 to 150 a day followed by 27.92 per cent Tk 76 to Tk 100 and 4.42 per cent Tk 250. But 37.2 per cent of the assistants get Tk 101-150 a day and none of them gets a wage of Tk 200 or more a day. The highest number of road costruction workers, that is, 32.2 per cent get Tk 101 to 150 a day and only 1.1 per cent of the workers get more than Tk 250 a day. It was found during the survey 15.37 per cent of them work as road construction labourers, 15.02 per cent as helpers, 13.78 per cent crush brick or stone, 13.96 per cent work in earthwork, 15.19 per cent work as painters, 7.07 per cent as masons, 8.83 per cent as brick kiln workers and 3.53 per cent as sanitary, mosaic and piling workers. Among the sub-sectors woman workers were found working as helpers in road construction works, earth works, brickstone crushing and in brick kilns only.
At least 82.33 per cent of the country's construction workers work more than eight hours a day while only the masons work less than 10 hours, says a study report. It also said among the various categories of workers in the sector assistants to masons, painters, sanitary and mosaic workers and piling labourers have to work about 12 hours a day and only 17.33 per cent of construction workers work eight hours a day. Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) conducted the survey on 'Condition of Workers Employed in the Construction Sector : An Overview' in 2007 among 566 sample construction workers from 10 districts including six divisional headquaters. Forty-seven per cent painters get between Tk 101 and 150, 1.2 per cent get more than Tk 200 a day. Fifty per cent of the masons get between Tk 201 and 250 while 10 per cent get more than Tk 250. At least 77 per cent construction workers have to work extra hours as 42.66 per cent of them think it a normal practice while 28 per cent workers work if their duty is pending. But the highest 29.33 per cent workers work under pressure from the contractor, or the team leader or the owner without payment. Workers in the country earn on an average Tk 3500 a month while the highest number of workers earn Tk 3000. In the construction sector 28.3 per cent workers earn between Tk 2001 and 3000 a month, 26 per cent earn as much as Tk 2000 or below that and 6.7 per cent who are mainly masons, piling and mosaic workers earn between Tk 6000 and 8000 a month. Only 1.9 per cent construction workers, mainly masons and painters, earn more than Tk 8000 a month. Besides, there are discrimination of wages between various sub-sectors of labourers of the construction sector. The study shows that the highest 32.69 per cent day labourer in the sector get from Tk 101 to 150 a day followed by 27.92 per cent Tk 76 to Tk 100 and 4.42 per cent Tk 250. But 37.2 per cent of the assistants get Tk 101-150 a day and none of them gets a wage of Tk 200 or more a day. The highest number of road costruction workers, that is, 32.2 per cent get Tk 101 to 150 a day and only 1.1 per cent of the workers get more than Tk 250 a day. It was found during the survey 15.37 per cent of them work as road construction labourers, 15.02 per cent as helpers, 13.78 per cent crush brick or stone, 13.96 per cent work in earthwork, 15.19 per cent work as painters, 7.07 per cent as masons, 8.83 per cent as brick kiln workers and 3.53 per cent as sanitary, mosaic and piling workers. Among the sub-sectors woman workers were found working as helpers in road construction works, earth works, brickstone crushing and in brick kilns only.