Insurance coverage for workers, employees

Insurance coverage for the employees and workers of all factories, shops and establishments, employing more than twenty personnel, should be made mandatory. The provision of insurance in more detail and elucidating the levels and minimum entitlements of benefits should be codified and incorporated in both the Factories Act and Shops and Establishment Acts of Bangladesh. This should then be strictly followed up, through the ministries of commerce and industries. To ensure that the insurance coverage is participated by all the employees and workers, a deduction of, say, one per cent of the monthly wages calculated on the basis of 25 working days per month (excluding weekly holidays and festival holidays, if any) can be made by the employer that should be included with the premium being paid for such insurance.
This writer during his decades of work in factories in Chittagong and later in Dhaka since 1955, mostly in the private sector, and for some years in the public sector, has handled many serious and fatal accidents related to factory workers. He encouraged all workers, staff and officers to regularly contribute a small amount ranging from Taka one to five per month, depending on the monthly take-home pay and wages of the personnel, to set up an unofficial helping fund, jointly operated by officers and workers. This was greatly appreciated by the workers' union and he never faced any strike or violence from workers and employees.

S. A. Mansoor
Dhaka.
sam@dhakacom.com