Factory owners not interested in taking management responsibility
The government is on the lookout for a system through which the rationing programme for the factory workers could be executed, as pledged by prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
In a meeting with the state minister for labour Mujibul Haque, representatives of factory owners on Thursday expressed their mixed opinion over the execution process and some of them proposed to provide fair price cards to the workers instead of ration.
According to the ministry officials, the representatives of the employers were not interested to take the management responsibility of the programme in their respective factories.
Owners suggested that the government should take the responsibility of implementing the programme and it should be outside of the factory premises, lest untoward situation might erupt in the factory over the rationing programme, source said.
‘The government has agreed in principle to introduce rationing so that workers can buy essential commodities including rice, atta, sugar and edible oil in a discount rate and we have been asked to set a system for implementing the programme,’ state minister for labour Mujibul Haque told New Age on Thursday.
He said as per the announcement of the prime minister, the government wants to start the rationing programme for the workers and recently the finance ministry has sought a clear proposal from the labour ministry as to how the programme could be executed.
Mujibul said that factory owners agreed with the rationing programme but they demanded that the programme should be implemented under the government management.
Some of the owners’ representatives also proposed for Open Market Sale instead of ration, he said.
The junior minister said that it was the first meeting to set a formula that ended with the decision to form a working committee comprising representatives from the government, factory owners and workers.
Through discussion with the sector people and experts the committee would make a recommendation on the execution system of workers rationing programme and the ministry would finalise the structure in the light of the recommendations, Mujibul added.
The representatives from Bangladesh Employers’ Federation, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Bangladesh Textile Mills Association and Bangladesh Jute Mills Association attended the meeting.
Source: New Age
