Labor law amendment: Draft finalized without taking into consideration

The Ministry of Labor and Employment has finalized the draft of the labor law amendment without taking into account the rights and interests of workers. There are a total of 76.5 million workers in the formal and informal sectors in the country. But this vast number of workers was not kept in mind while amending the labor law. Especially the concerns of garment sector workers were taken into primary consideration. Even the definition of a worker has not been properly presented. Workers' provident fund and lump sum money after retirement (gratuity) are not being made mandatory.

Independent right to form trade unions is also not being granted. The opportunity to form trade unions complying with ILO provisions has not been kept. The opinions of the workers' side were not taken into account regarding maternity leave, job security, liability of factory authorities in case of accidents during commuting to the workplace, etc. Labor leader and member of the Tripartite Consultative Council (TCC) Rajekuzzaman Ratan said, "This amendment is not worker-friendly. Some steps conflicting with the ILO convention are also being taken."

Maternity leave is six months for government employees, four months for the garment sector, but nothing has been said for the informal sector. We want maternity leave to be the same for everyone, but that is not being done." This draft will be presented at the governing body meeting of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to be held in Geneva, Switzerland from March 10 to 20. However, it is known that this draft has been finalized ignoring the demands and opinions of the workers.

This draft of the labor law amendment will be shown to Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Tuesday. It will then be presented at the ILO meeting. However, this amendment will not come into effect within March. Because, it is not possible to complete the entire process within March after returning to the country ending the ILO meeting. The amendment will be issued as an ordinance after the approval of the Cabinet Division and the Council of Advisers, which will take some time. A delegation will leave Dhaka on March 9 to attend the ILO meeting.

This team will be led by Labor and Employment Adviser Brigadier General (Retd.) M Sakhawat Hossain. Other members in the team will be Labor Secretary A H M Safiquzzaman, Chief Adviser's Special Envoy Lutfey Siddiqi, Additional Secretary of the Labor Ministry Md. Humayun Kabir, Joint Secretary Mohammad Hossain Sarkar, and Private Secretary to the Labor Adviser Md. Zahidul Islam. Notably, Bangladesh was elected as a member of the ILO governing body last year. The steps taken by Bangladesh were praised at the meeting held in Geneva last November.

Even some countries have spoken about withdrawing the cases against Bangladesh. However, cases against Bangladesh at the ILO by six countries including Japan on charges of shortcomings in implementing labor rights are still ongoing. Questions remain as to how effective this draft of the labor law amendment will be in protecting the rights and interests of workers. If this amendment is finalized ignoring the opinions of workers, it may create a new crisis for the workers. What decision comes after the presentation of this draft at the ILO meeting is now a matter to be seen.