Owners-workers\\\' row delays rules forming

Formulation of rules to implement the amended labour law is getting delayed, following disagreements between the representatives of owners and workers over a number of issues relating to definition and outsourcing of workers, and their share in companies' profit, sources said.
Besides, both the sides are yet to reach a consensus on the issues like functioning of the workers' welfare fund, disputes over implementation of some provisions of the amended labour law with regard to formation of safety committees and their jurisdiction, they said.
However, labour leaders have alleged that the government is dillydallying over formation of the rules, protecting the owners' interest. Formulation of the necessary rules is urgent to implement the country's labour law, they said.
The labour ministry recently set March next as the deadline to formulate the rules after missing its revised deadlines, including the latest in December last.
There is international pressure also to amend the law and properly put them into practice to improve and ensure workplace safety and labour standards, especially in the readymade garment (RMG) sector, following the deadly Tazreen fire and Rana Plaza building collapse, they added.
The EU and the US on different occasions pressed the government to formulate the rules for implementing the amended labour law.
The government promised to formulate the rules by March 2014 and again sought time extension until July last and then December last, which also expired, to revive the US GSP facility and retain the same in the EU market.   
Labour ministry sources said the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 lacks the required rules even though it was passed a couple of years back. The labour laws were amended thrice with the latest change taking place in July 2013.
After enacting the Labour Act 2006, the government took a move to formulate the rules, and a draft was also drawn up after two years. But it is yet to see the light also. The draft rules were prepared in line with the previous ones, they added.
Socialist Labour Front general secretary Razzequezzaman Ratan alleged that the government is conscious to serve the purposes of the industry owners and large business enterprises rather the workers.
"If the definition of worker is changed according to the owners' proposal, they (workers) will be deprived of many of their rightful benefits, including trade union."
The people who have the authority to hire and fire must be excluded from the definition of worker, he also said, demanding withdrawal of other barriers in line with the article 1(4) of the labour law.
Permanent workers must be employed for permanent production work. Besides, job security with all benefits must be ensured for workers, outsourced for various big and multinational companies, he added.
"Everything has been done. The government is not approving the rules, as some large companies or owners don't want the law to be implemented," said Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, assistant executive director of Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies.
Due to absence of the rules, the new provisions that have been incorporated in the amended ones can not be implemented, another labour leader observed.
Citing an example, he said according to the amended labour law, a safety committee is a must for a factory that has 50 workers or more than that, and the committee would be administered according to the rules. Yet there are no rules to implement the labour law, he regretted.
"We are reviewing all the recommendations in this regard, which need time to protect interest of both the workers and the owners," a labour ministry official said.
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