Welfare of workers in Bangladesh has been a low priority issue for long. A large number of business houses in Bangladesh are yet to give the required attention to the welfare of the workers, especially the low-paid segment. Possibly that is why the government initiated setting up of the Bangladesh Workers' Welfare Foundation but visible results are yet to be seen.
The country's labour law, amended in 2006, however, legally binds a company to keep five per cent of its net profit for the welfare fund of the company and the government's Workers' Welfare Foundation. Happily, the law, revised subsequently in 2013, asked for 10 per cent of the amount to the Foundation while 80 per cent to the company's own welfare fund. The remaining 10 per cent is meant for funding recreational activities of the workers.
But a recent press report has brought to the fore the issue again. It found that most of the companies are reluctant to contribute to the Workers' Welfare Foundation. Only 38 companies contributed to the Foundation in the last nine years and most of these are multinationals. Is it believable that only 38 companies are making profit in the country?
So far, around Tk 700 million has been mopped up for the Foundation's fund but it is really quizzical why disbursement of funds for the targeted welfare functions has not yet fully commenced. In fact, a major problem is lack of a clear-cut framework of activities and modalities of execution.
Awareness programmes among various companies and corporate houses are needed to raise more funds and disburse those faster. But the government has to spell out in clear terms who the beneficiaries will be and how these will be disbursed.
The main problem appears to be lying with the Labour Ministry as it has so far failed to realise due contribution from the profit-making companies. No doubt, the ministry has its limitations as the corporate sector is not tied to to it as the ministries of finance, commerce and the NBR are. Besides, the ministry itself is receiving less attention from the quarters which matter in terms of decision-making. The annual budget for labour and employment ministry has been reduced to Tk 1.47 billion in FY14-15 from Tk 1.92 billion in FY13-14. Although, a cut in the budget does not give the whole picture, it indeed reflects a lesser priority.
While a number of companies and corporate entities take the welfare aspect as one of the core values of business, others seem to be reluctant. These companies sometimes even fail to differentiate between expenditure on salary and welfare. They rather point out from time to time the upward adjustment of wages and salaries as welfare benefits. But this is not to be.
Contribution to workers' welfare is not an act of charity at all. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has defined labour welfare as 'such services, facilities and amenities, which may be established in or in the vicinity of, undertakings to enable persons employed therein to perform their work in healthy, congenial surroundings and to provide them with amenities conducive to good health and good morale.'
Generally, labour welfare is something beyond the ambit of wages to the workers. This is the first condition of labour welfare initiatives. Secondly, either an employer or the government or a trade union or even a voluntary organisation can be the facilitator of labour welfare programmes. Thirdly, labour welfare can be measured within and outside the company and as a social security scheme.
Labour welfare is integrally linked to conducive working conditions. Welfare amenities include, among others, maternity benefits, social insurance schemes, medical facilities, recreational facilities etc. All these are beyond regular wages or salaries.
A number of companies and corporate houses in Bangladesh have the tendency to spend some money from their charitable funds which they tend to label as welfare activities. In this way, these companies avoid their required spending on welfare amenities. Charity is welcome only after workers are provided with welfare amenities in real sense of the term.  Â
The Indian experience offers precious lessons in labour welfare. India has a separate wing named the Directorate General of Labour Welfare (labour welfare organisation) to deal with welfare aspects of workers. It is mostly responsible for policy and legislation related to workers in the unorganised sectors as well as administration of welfare funds for specified categories of workers.
The fund raising system is also important. In most Indian cases, funds are raised from a tax on the production in specified industries and it is mostly on those where no direct employer-employee relationship exists.
asjadulk@gmail.com
Funds for workers\\\' welfare not a charity
Asjadul Kibria | Published: February 05, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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