Conference on Organized labour
Responses to the Conference Paper
Nazrul Islam Khan
Secretary General, Bangladesh Inst. of Labour Studies - BILS, (General Secretary, Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal - BJSD), Dhaka, Bangladesh
19 November 1998
In response to your invitation to comment on the following issues, I am forwarding bellow our comments. During the previous weeks, I discussed the issues with a number of senior trade union leaders representing different national centres of Trade Unions in the country and incorporated their views too in my response.
In Bangladesh the following challenges have been most important :
1. Losing members because of -
a. Closure of numbers of large and medium industries specially jute, textile, Metal etc. and squeezing public sector, where union had their B hold, as a result of privatization and the open market policy adopted by the Govt. to coop with the process of so-called globalization of economy.
b. Discouraging trade union activities in new and specially export oriented industries like Garments Industries, which employs around 1.5 million workers, by creating administrative hindrance and cooperating employer to avoid and undermine trade unions in almost every sector. Presently, the Govt. is even trying to ban trade union activities in the banking sector where T.U movement will loose thousands of its membership
2. Slow rate of organizing because of -
a. Major portion of workers are joining in the fast growing informal sectors, small commercial & service enterprises and small industries where it is very difficult to organize trade union because of both legal, practical and economic reasons. Organizing at least 30% of the workers of any establishment is a precondition to apply for registration of a union and functioning of a trade union without registration is illegal in the country. The employers are hostile to union and they get support of administration in their efforts to resist formation of union by sacking the organizers and even by assaulting them physically.
b. Changing pattern of job in the form of increasing of part time, home based & contract job, temporary appointment without issuing any appoint letter which causes practical problem to prove that they are employees to become a union member.
c. Restriction of T.U rights in so many areas like EPZ ,Hospitals, Education Institutions, Co-operatives, services of the republic and the agriculture which constitutes 80% of the workforce.
d. Lack of job security due to weak implementation of labour law, growing number of unemployment, absence of social security system.
e. Increasing number of women workers. In last fifteen years a vast number of women joined in workforce, which was new phenomena for the trade union movement and trade union movement was not prepared enough to organize them and do not have trained women activist and infrastructure for this.
Other key issues-
1. Trade Union Rights - Increasing threat on trade union rights specially pursuing by the IMF, WB etc.
2 Migrant workers rights: An international effort need to formulate strategies to protect migrant workers rights, specially co-ordination between the trade union movement of sending and recipient countries.
Response to the challenges-
Trade Union movement in Bangladesh is trying to respond the challenges in all possible ways like -
a. Launched united programme to combat the depression like loosing job, closure of industries, privatisation at all level.
b Training the activist and leaders to cope up with the new changing situation with collaboration of BILS , ILO, ICFTU, ITS's and other organizations.
c Set up women committees and appoint organizers to organize women workers.
d. Established Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies-BILS to undertake research,
e. Training and information service so that the trade union movement is able to take the right strategies to combat the challenges.
f. Launched campaigns on full trade union rights and safe work place in support of the BILS and ICFTU-APRO.
g. Trying to establish a greater unity in the national trade union movement in the form of Confederation.
Success
1. Formation of a Tripartrite Committee to review the proposed labour code to make it more democratic as a result of an agreement between SKOP ( an united forum of all the major national centres of the country).
2. Sensitise the trade union movement and other organizations on women worker rights and gender issues which improve (though very little ) of the situation of women workers, specially in garments sector.
3. Established Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies - BILS which is the first organization of its kind in the country and where all the major national centres of trade unions are working together with a common goal to build capacity of the labour movement to face the present and future challenges.
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