Government workers not given proper employment benefits

Rani Das used to be able to hold her head up, high. Though by no means rich - her small monthly salary as a government cleaner did at least mean that she could survive and feed her family. Now, however, after 38 years of service she is a beggar - forced to stand out-side her old office pleading for paisa from her former colleagues.
Rani is one of thousands of workers who, despite their long years of work for a government body, are deprived of a pension because they were treated as 'temporary' or 'casual' workers - even though their work was identical to those working on 'permanent' contracts.
Such workers which include both low-grade workers on the 'muster roll' and higher-grade workers on 89-day rolling contracts - do not just lose their right to a pension. Whilst working, they are paid less than permanent workers, and, unlike them, usually have no right to paid leave, a festival bonus, entitlements to the provident fund and have no protection from arbitrary dismissal. If they die whilst at work, their dependents receive no death benefit.
The Daily Star has confirmed that the practice of denying permanent contracts to workers who are effectively working full-time is prevalent in many government agencies--including the Dhaka and Chittagong City Corporations, Dhaka Power Development Company, Biman Airlines, Janata Bank, and the Board of Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd and in municipalities around the country. It also exists in Titas Gas Distribution Company, Dhaka Water and Sanitation Authority, Roads and Highways, and the Bangladesh Shilpkala Academy.
Until 2006, government agencies and autonomous bodies were exempt from employment legislation. However, they must now abide by the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 which states that employers may only avoid putting workers on a 'permanent' contract if their work is of a "casual nature” or it is “essentially temporary and likely to be finished within a limited period.” Neither of these categories apply to 'muster roll' workers or those on running contracts.
“These workers are not temporary, they are not casual - they are really permanent and the law requires that such workers be given the full rights of permanent employees,” said S A Hoque, an eminent labour lawyer who represents both workers and employers.
Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) employs about 5,000 harijan sweepers. Although they have been working full time for the DCC for many years, they are treated simply as daily wage workers--on what is known as the 'muster roll'.
Krishna Lal has worked for the DCC for 12 years. He said, “When I work 30 days a month, I get Tk 4,500 -- but for each day I am absent due to sickness or for any other reason, the DCC deducts Tk 150.” A permanent cleaner gets almost double the salary - Tk 7,500 per month, and benefits.
The small number of cleaners that the DCC employed on a permanent contract not only get almost double the salary -- but also have full employment rights. “Is it fair that people doing exactly the same jobs should be treated differently? How can I bring up a family of six on my salary?” Krishna asked. And when he retires, he will have no right to a pension.
Employing workers on the 'muster roll' has no legislative basis -- though it is mentioned in the DCC's organogram.
Chittagong City Corporation also employs thousands of harijan workers on the 'muster roll'. The same practice also exists in local municipalities around the country, where conditions are even worse with harijan muster roll workers receiving as little as Tk 75 per day with a similar lack of employment rights.
Employing workers on the 'muster roll' is only one way of avoiding the on permanent contracts. Other government agencies believe they have found a loop-hole in the labour laws by creating contracts which are only 89 days long -- one day short of the period when a probationary worker is made permanent. The authorities then continually re-contract the same workers every 89 days.
In May 2005 Dhaka Electric Supply Authority (DESA), which has now become the Dhaka Power Development Company (DPDC), issued an office order stating that all of its 1,380 stenographers would be employed on a contract stating that the worker would “never get a formal appointment letter”, “never be assured of regularising his job in the office” and “never be employed to work for more than 89 days.”
One stenographer told The Daily Star that she had been employed for three years on a salary of Tk 118 per day and that her job was "renewed verbally every 89 days”. Similar provisions continue to exist in the newly formed DPDC.
The 89 day contract generally impacts low paid low workers. However The Daily Star has found that Biman Airlines now use 89 day contracts for employing engineers. In July 2007, around 3,000 took "voluntary retirement", but on 1 August, it re-employed 592 officials including engineers to do the same job at less than half the previous salary on 89-day contracts.
One Biman ground service officer told The Daily Star that he used to get Tk 35,000 per month, but that his wage was now Tk 15,000 -- although he effectively works permanently. He said, "Formally permanent employees at Biman who do exactly the same job as me now get Tk 57,000 plus earned leave and a pension and provident fund.”
When asked why he continued with this job, he broke down in tears. He said, “My elder daughter is due to be married. As a Biman employee, people respect me. If I lose my job, I will lose my social dignity, and my daughter will not find a suitable husband.”
Some government bodies are now recognising the unlawfulness of the situation. In December 2009, the Board of Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTCL) (formerly the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board) decided to regularise all its so called casual employees and make them permanent.
And the chairman of Janata Bank, Abul Barakat, has recently asked the trade union for a list of all the casual employees whose conditions should be regularised.
Sadeq Hossain Khoka, the Mayor of Dhaka, acknowledged to The Daily Star that the harijan cleaners working in the DCC were living in a miserable condition. He said that he sent a letter in October 2009 to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and Cooperative asking it to regularize the employment status of all those workers who had served for over 13 years. “Now it is the decision of the LGRD ministry, who have to consult with the Ministry of Establishment as the organogram needs to be changed and with the Ministry of Finance as they will be paid under the revenue budget.”
Priyotosh Saha, company secretary of the DPDC stated that it has no plans to regularize the “casual workers” He told The Daily Star that “Every three months we internally review the situation.”