EU suggests short, medium-term plan of actions

The European Union (EU) has suggested a set of short and medium-termed plan of actions, including framing regulations for the 2013 labour law reforms and ensuring workers' rights to exercise trade union in apparel industry of Bangladesh.
It also called for necessary measures for protecting workers' rights in the export processing zones (EPZs).
The suggestions were made by the EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström in an event on April 22 at the European Parliament to mark the two year anniversary of the Rana Plaza clothing factory disaster.
"I would like to highlight three priority actions for the short term and several others priorities for the medium term. The most urgent action needed is for the government to pass the implementing regulations for the 2013 labour law reform," Ms Malmström told the Brussels Conference.
She also stated that the fact that this has not happened yet is serious limiting the effect of the reforms. It's slowing efforts to set up a mature industrial relations system. It's impeding vital parts of the Better Work Programme.
And it is hindering the setting up of factory committees to monitor occupational safety and health, she said.
The latest plan by the Bangladesh government is for the rules to be passed in June 2015. Unlike previous announced dates, this one must be met, the EU Trade Commissioner said.
"We are meeting here two years after the disaster. And it will be two years since the adoption of the reformed labour law in July. There is no good reason why this cannot be done now," she said. The second short term goal is for the government to effectively investigate and prosecute unfair labour practices. Those includes anti-union discrimination and reprisals. Even more worryingly, they include violence against trade union members, she said.
"This is essential. As long as workers who organise to defend their rights do not feel secure, then poor conditions will prevail. The Government must show very clearly that violence and discrimination are not acceptable in today's workplace," she said.
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