South Asia needs network for migrant workers' welfare
Sunday, 14 December 2008
Speakers at a discussion Saturday underscored the need for creating a network among the trade unions of the SAARC member states for ensuring welfare of the migrant workers abroad, reports BSS.
The network, they suggested, could act as bargaining agents with the receiving countries so that the workers were not deprived of their dues and rights at home and abroad.
The discussion on ' The Role of Trade Union in Protecting Migrant Workers' Rights', was organised by Bangladesh Construction and Wood Workers Federation (BCWWF) in cooperation with the Welfare Association for the Rights of Bangladeshi Emigrants (WARBE) Development Foundation.
WARBE Development Foundation Chairman Syed Saiful Haque, Bangladesh Trade Union Centre (BTUC) Secretary General Dr Wajed-ul Islam Khan, BCWWF General Secretary of BCWWF Pulak Ranjan Dhar and Home Net Bangladesh President Dilruba Anguri, among others, spoke on the occasion.
Dr Wajed-ul Islam Khan said that despite an enormous contribution of the migrant workers of Bangladesh to the economies of the host countries, they were deprived of their rights enshrined in the UN and ILO conventions.
Syed Saiful Haque said that the country's workers who intended to go abroad for work faced harassment at every step of processing their jobs. Interference from the intermediaries must be eliminated for the workers to have a smooth process for going abroad on work, he said.
Pulak Ranjan Dhar said that in 2007 alone Bangladeshi workers abroad had sent home about seven billion US dollars, equivalent to 48.5 per cent of the country's export earning.
He also said that nearly 61,53,457 Bangladeshis who worked abroad on legal documents, mostly in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia from 1976 to October 2008, sent home Tk 3.08 trillion (3,08,574 crore).
Dilruba Anguri underscored the need for counseling in the rural areas to make the workers, especially women aware about the negative role of the intermediaries.
The network, they suggested, could act as bargaining agents with the receiving countries so that the workers were not deprived of their dues and rights at home and abroad.
The discussion on ' The Role of Trade Union in Protecting Migrant Workers' Rights', was organised by Bangladesh Construction and Wood Workers Federation (BCWWF) in cooperation with the Welfare Association for the Rights of Bangladeshi Emigrants (WARBE) Development Foundation.
WARBE Development Foundation Chairman Syed Saiful Haque, Bangladesh Trade Union Centre (BTUC) Secretary General Dr Wajed-ul Islam Khan, BCWWF General Secretary of BCWWF Pulak Ranjan Dhar and Home Net Bangladesh President Dilruba Anguri, among others, spoke on the occasion.
Dr Wajed-ul Islam Khan said that despite an enormous contribution of the migrant workers of Bangladesh to the economies of the host countries, they were deprived of their rights enshrined in the UN and ILO conventions.
Syed Saiful Haque said that the country's workers who intended to go abroad for work faced harassment at every step of processing their jobs. Interference from the intermediaries must be eliminated for the workers to have a smooth process for going abroad on work, he said.
Pulak Ranjan Dhar said that in 2007 alone Bangladeshi workers abroad had sent home about seven billion US dollars, equivalent to 48.5 per cent of the country's export earning.
He also said that nearly 61,53,457 Bangladeshis who worked abroad on legal documents, mostly in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia from 1976 to October 2008, sent home Tk 3.08 trillion (3,08,574 crore).
Dilruba Anguri underscored the need for counseling in the rural areas to make the workers, especially women aware about the negative role of the intermediaries.