Proper registration must for labour rights

Speakers and labour rights activists yesterday urged employers to properly keep records of their employees to ensure labour rights in the country.

They opined that if the employers properly keep all necessary paperwork, the labourers will get proper recognition for their work, which will in turn help ensure their rights including workplace safety and compensations during accidents.

They said these when addressing a roundtable organised by the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) and Sramik Kormochari Oikya Parishad (SKOP) at the capital's The Daily Star Centre.

The speakers also urged the government to reform the existing labour law and incorporate a chapter elucidating issues regarding compensating dead and wounded workers.

Speaking at the programme, Jatiya Sramik League General Secretary Humayun Kabir said, "As per laws, registration process for recruiting workers is a must,  but many of the employers in our country do not follow it properly."

"The government ought to force the employers to follow the registration process and monitor whether they are doing so," he stressed.

The employers have to build safe, compatible infrastructures in line with the building code as it is the key to ensuring workplace safety and labour rights, said Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal President Anwar Hossain.

Echoing Anwar, Abdul Shahidullah Chowdhury, a trade union leader, suggested forming an institution to monitor such issues as giving compensations and rehabilitation of wounded workers.

Another trade union leader, Abdul Mukit Khan, said, "Before thinking of reparations, we must think of ensuring workplace safety in order to curb occupational fatalities."

The programme's chief guest Syed Ahmed, inspector general at the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, said his organisation needed more manpower to properly inspect factories and infrastructures.

"Currently, we have only 264 staff and are planning to propose the government increase it to 2,500," he added.

Prof MM Akash of Dhaka University, National Human Rights Commission Director (admin and finance) Israt Hossain, BILS Chairman Habibur Rahman Siraj, its Executive Director Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmmed and Bangladesh Labour Welfare Foundation Chairman Abdus Salam Khan also spoke.