The urgent need for a worker database

Do we know the number of garment workers in Bangladesh? Do we have statistics on their age and gender? Do we know how many of them die at the workplace because of work-related accidents and how many die outside? How many hatcheries do we have, and how many workers sell their labour in the shrimp, poultry, and other hatcheries in Bangladesh? How many workers are there in the leather, shipbreaking, and other industries? How many of the youth work as delivery persons? Do we know the number of people engaged in app-based work contributing to the economy? Have we categorised the workers of the formal and informal sectors? The list of questions can be longer. Regardless, the objective of raising them is to revisit our position, action, and attitude towards the workers who run the wheel of Bangladesh’s economy.

In the last one and a half decades, “digital Bangladesh” was probably one of the most uttered terms that is now found useless because of the absence of a digital information storage and management system in most sectors, just like the labour sector. Both the limitations of our legal framework and the absence of a database have jeopardised labour rights and protection.

Although we have a legal framework–the Labour Act, 200–the execution of its clauses involves a complicated process discouraging workers from claiming benefits in court. Let us take the case of Minara, a garment industry worker who was killed in a road accident in Banani on March 10. According to the Act, one has to be in service for at least two years and die while at work to make their family eligible for compensation. Is it then Minara’s fault that she was hit by a truck on the road? Are workers like Minara disposable? Aren’t they citizens of this country, too?

But the situation of the informal sector workers is even worse. Most of their work has not been even recognised by the Labour Act. Yet this is the work that adds value to the economy of the country. They are the drivers of personal and organisational vehicles as well as app-based drivers, domestic workers, cleaners, gardeners, security guards, construction workers of personal properties, labourers in agriculture, fisheries and other sectors, tea workers, home deliverers, etc. Since we cannot deny the importance of their contribution to both formal and informal economic sectors, is it not a responsibility of the government to ensure their rights and protection?

Bangladesh has recently amended some of the policies regarding the rights of trade unions according to the recommendations of the International Labour Organization (ILO). But can these changes touch those workers who are not even recognised by law? Bangladesh urgently needs to revisit its policies to make them more worker-friendly.

Research can provide us with data to develop long- and short-term plans for the informal labour market and get a clearer picture of the volume of contribution of these workers to the overall economy. However, neither the academics nor the labour ministry conducts substantial research on their situation. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why we do not have answers to the questions raised at the beginning of this article. The existing law is incomplete because of its limited capacity in addressing the issue of labourers. We must not forget that the country’s informal sector contributes 43 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and generates 85 percent of employment, according to the Labour Force Survey 2022.

Along with the lack of adequate research, the absence of a database for workers is another great concern. We desperately need a digital repository system that can help collect, store, and analyse information of workers, employers, and labour laws, making employers accountable, empowering workers, and driving policy changes. A database is also helpful in tracking violations, wage theft, unsafe working conditions, discrimination, etc., enforcing laws, protecting workers, ensuring transparency and accountability at the workplace, empowering workers, and most importantly, formulating data-driven policies.

A database can provide significant benefits for workers in the informal sector, who often lack job security, contracts, and legal protections. However, our labour ministry is yet to take any initiative on developing a database for the industries and for the labour force of the country. We do not know the number of people working as labourers in different categories, both within and outside Bangladesh. Addressing discrimination based on gender or disabilities is a distant goal.

Seeing garment industry workers on the street demanding their wages before Eid is a common sight in our country every year. And they are categorised as the formal sector’s workers. What about informal sector workers? Have we thought of the consequences a food delivery boy has to face in case of an accident involving his bicycle? Or a private car driver who is the only breadwinner of a five-member family and has lost his job without any notice just because the car owner’s son had an argument with him?

We take actions only when we are pressured by ILO and other influential organisations. We should ask whether the government is doing favour to the workers by granting their rights by the law or if it is a duty of the government to ensure the rights and protection of the workers regardless of their status? We must keep in mind that the united efforts of the informal sectors’ workers are one of the key forces to run the wheel of our economy. We all saw how remittance declined during the July revolution just because of the united efforts of our migrant workers.

If workers in a country are well-paid and secure, they spend more, boosting business profits, which leads to more job creation—a cycle of economic growth. Therefore, including the informal sector’s workers in the Labour Act, 2006 and developing a database for them, which is actually essential for the government, is a duty of the government.

Dr Ishrat Zakia Sultana is assistant professor of sociology, North South University.

Views expressed in this article are the author’s own.