Better safety and lesser disparity

Kazi Md Mukitul Islam | Published: May 01, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

Bangladesh is endowed with rich human capital. It may not have oil, gold or copper as much as others, but has brain, hands and bodies as the unique resources. The majority of the people in this country are involved in labour-intensive employment. Articles 14, 19 and 20 of the Constitution focus on issues concerning workers' rights and abolition of inequality. The country that started with a socialist agenda (Article 13 of the Constitution), has now adopted market economy. The challenges that Bangladesh faces in terms of its labour range from the ready-made garment (RMG) sector to domestic workers and child labour. The May Day observance should not be limited to speeches. A long-term plan should be there to ensure workers' rights and sustainable development.Â Â
May Day is observed officially in more than 80 countries. Espoused by socialists and labour unions, May Day originated in the USA. It began with a strike, involving 400,000 workers, in the Haymarket, Chicago on May 01, 1886 demanded an 8-hour day. Books like The Jungle and The Iron Heel provided the intellectual foundation against the 10-16 working-hour pattern of the 19th century. Following a proposal by Raymond Lavigne, the 1st May was declared to be observed annually in 1891.Â Since then this day has been being observed as a reminder of the responsibilities that we owe to our underprivileged labourers and workers who build the foundation of our greater amenities.
Bangladesh's labour force almost doubled from 30 million to 56 million between 1985 and 1995. Today, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Bangladesh has employment opportunities for around 76 million people aged 15 or more. This share of the labour population (71 per cent) of Bangladesh is better than in India, Pakistan and the USA (56 per cent, 54 per cent and 63 per cent respectively). But, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, there are still 2.6 million people unemployed and 1.1 million work in households without payment. According to the Bangladesh Economic Forum, out of the 2.2 million people joining the existing workforce, only 0.7 million get jobs. This surplus labour supply against the limited demand leads to underemployment and structural unemployment of fresh graduates. Bangladesh with its growing demographic dividend (majority of people aged 18-35), faces a more formidable challenge from unemployment of youths (7.46 per cent).
The heart of our export earnings, RMG (ready-made garment) sector, started off with only 50 factories in 1980s. Today the number has grown to 4,490 manufacturing units creating jobs for over 4 million people (80 per cent of them are female). This sector not only contributes to our GDP (gross domestic product), but also achievement of targets on other socio-cultural indicators including Human Development Index. However, devastating incidents and unrest have made this sector vulnerable to foreign competition. According to a report of Odhikar, 1,136 people died in this sector in strife during the period from 2009-13. The death toll from the Rana Plaza collapse last year equals the number. The building collapse left 1132 people dead and over 2500 injured. This bears testimony to inefficient governance, corruption and the poor working condition existing in the sector. Out of 3,600 victims, families of only 909 got financial support ranging between Tk 100,000 and Tk 500,000. And it was very insufficient. Again, from Bangladesh Prime Minister's relief fund (Tk 127 crore or 1.27 billion) for the Rana Plaza victims, only Tk 220 million has been spent so far.
Nonetheless, the growing pressure from multiple stakeholders led to an amendment to the labour law in July, 2013 with provisions for trade unions and 77 per cent increase in the minimum wage ($68 from $38). Other new inclusions are: a factory with more than 5,000 workers will have a clinic and a factory with minimum 100 workers as compared to 200 before will offer unavoidable group insurance schemes. Under the new law, factories should keep five per cent of profits for welfare funds for employees.
The advocates of market economy usually ignore labour unions, as it reduces the profit of the owners. Incapability to form a network of labourers has led to exploitation of this group over the years in capitalist economies. According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), only 3.5 per cent of the workforce (1.8 million) is unionised in Bangladesh. The old labour law stipulated that signatures of minimum 30 per cent workers of any factory would be required to form a union. But collection of the signatures leads to firing of workers. Therefore, labour leaders have demanded a cut in the figure to 10 per cent. Unless the union is allowed to run smoothly, safety and security of workers will be a far cry.
Allowing child labour is the violation of basic human rights and the constitution. The ILO estimates that there are about 250 million children aged 5-14, who are forced to work worldwide (80 million in Asia). Bangladesh's population remains young with 35 per cent of them under the age of 14. The growing pressure of family insolvency leads to a rise in the number of child labour in Bangladesh. Though the labour law and the Child Development Policy prohibit child labour aged less than 14, still according to the UNICEF, there are 4.7 million children working as labourers (10 per cent of children aged 5-14 years). They work 28 hours a week for only Tk 222 ($ 3.3). The majority of these children, who should have gone to school end up being street vendors, motor car helpers, coolies and even prostitutes (there are 29,000 child prostitutes in Bangladesh in 18 red-listed areas). Domestic workers are another group of the labour force facing violation of basic rights at workplaces.Â According to the Baseline Survey 2007 conducted by the ILO and the UNICEF, there were 420,000 domestic workers in the country. The Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies statistics reported torture of at least 799 domestic workers in the last 10 years. According to Ain O Shalish Kendra (ASK), during the period of January to September 2013, 61 incidents of domestic violence were reported and only 18 cases were filed. Thirty-nine of these victims died, committed suicide or were murdered. Bangladesh needs to enact a law under the ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers in order to frame policies in accordance with the convention that will safeguard rights of workers who remain out of the formal market.
Bangladesh, a labour-intensive country, offers less social protection to its labour force than the average South Asian and European standard. Only 19.2 per cent of the labour force is under social protection, according to the World Bank. This rate is much higher for Europe and South Asia (63.1 per cent and 33.2 per cent respectively). However, the benefit hardly reaches the poorest of the poor. The adequacy of benefit in the poorest quintile is only 7.0 per cent for Bangladesh while the figures are 35.6 per cent and 19.9 per cent for Central Asia and South Asia respectively.
Following the Western model of development, the current transition from the agrarian economy to industrial one should be in parallel with protection of the new industrial labour force (both formal and informal). A large number of people who work in the informal sector also needed to be brought under greater security and welfare schemes. The line between state and corporate motives (welfare vs. profit) must be evident with the state taking steps for its labour force. Otherwise, the inequality and division within the population will lead to greater unrest in society.
Once Napoleon said: Give me educated mothers, I'll give you an educated nation. Likewise, we can say: give me a skill workforce, I will give you a developed nation. Â
The writer is doing his MSS at the Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka. mukitul.raj@gmail.com