Draft labour law flown to Geneva

Bangladesh is going to the International Labour Conference in Geneva with the draft copy of the amended labour law to satisfy the international community.

“We have brought in changes to the draft of the labour law as per the recommendations of the international communities like the ILO, the EU and the US to improve labour rights in the country,” said Md Mujibul Haque, state minister for labour and employment.

Haque and Law Minister Anisul Huq will attend the annual meeting of the International Labour Organisation that begins today and will continue until June 10.

Changes to the labour law were brought in mainly in two areas.

Now, association of 20 percent of the workers in a factory is sufficient to form a union instead of 30 percent.

Second, officials of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments would be able to visit and inspect the factories housed inside of the Export Processing Zones.

“Previously this was not possible,” Haque told The Daily Star over phone.

With the current amended labour law that parliament adopted in July 2013 after the Rana Plaza building collapse, it was difficult to collect consent of 30 percent workers of a factory to form a trade union. Since then, only 625 trade unions have been formed in the garment sector, a paltry number.

As a result, the international community, particularly the rights groups, lobbied with the government to lower the threshold to a reasonable level such that unions can be formed easily. “So, we agreed to 20 percent in consultation with the tripartite committee,” Haque said. The committee was formed last year mainly to resolve crisis in the garment sector through consultation.

The prime minister has already consented to the proposed changes to the labour law, the state minister said, adding that the amendment would be passed in parliament either in the upcoming budget session or in the one after that.

Earlier, the expert committee of the ILO in its observation urged the government to ensure that the Bangladesh Labour Act and the Bangladesh Labour Rules are brought into conformity with the provisions of the Convention regarding freedom of association.