Bepza Activities-ii
Salary hike creates labour-friendly atmosphere in EPZs
Jasim Uddin Khan
A labour congenial atmosphere in the country's export processing zones (EPZs), especially at Savar and Chittagong EPZs, that has been sustained due to Bepza's (Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority) time-befitting and proper measure now encourages some other labour-unrest-prone industrial zones to replicate the Bepza successes, according to official sources.The Bepza initiative to enhance wages to around Tk 255crore for about 2 lakh workers at the industrial units at Savar and Chittagong EPZs in the last one year has cooled down the agitated workers, which tremendously helped improve the atmosphere. The units also started complying with creation of provident fund, group insurance, termination benefit and different kinds of leave. The Bepza intervened following a persistent stalemate arising out of workers' agitation over poor payment at different industrial units at the Savar EPZ in April and May last year. On his takeover as the Bepza executive chairman in April 2006, Brigadier General Ashraf Abdullah Yussuf made it mandatory to pay wages and other benefit to the workers as per EPZ rules. "Industries at the EPZs have to pay minimum wage of US$30 per month with $15 other benefits as per the EPZ rules, but most of those did not obey the rules resulting in workers' protest," Ashraf Abdullah Yussuf told The Daily Star. He said he does not see any probability of labour unrest at these zones as EPZ guidelines have strictly been enforced there. The Bepza chief called on the garment factory owners to follow what successes the EPZs earned and replicate those at their industrial units. As many as 900 workers have already been trained up at the two Bepza training institutes in the last one year, he said, hoping that these institutes would be able to up skills of 50,000 workers more in the next one year. "The workers are being deprived of their due wages due to lack of proper training. If we provide them necessary training they would get the maximum benefit from investors. However the new investors prefer hiring trained workers to unskilled workers." he added. The Bepza has established two foot over bridges, waiting rooms, toilet, medical centre and ambulence facilities for the workers at the Chittagong EPZ. The American Federation of Labour-Congress Industrial Organization (AFL-CIO) recently expressed satisfaction over allowing limited trade unionism at EPZs under the EPZ Labour Organization Relationship Rules. A regular monitoring on compliance issues has improved the workers-owners relationship in the EPZs, according to the Bepza sources.
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