Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar on Tuesday admitted that the government had to ignore to some extent the interest the workers in favour of the industries in the recent amendment of the labour law.
“The interest of the workers had to be ignored to some extent to protect the interest of the industries,” he said at the 53rd meeting of the Tripartite Consultative Committee (TCC) on labour affairs.
The TCC meeting was presided over by Labour Minister Raziuddin Ahmed Razu.
“There was tremendous time-bound international pressure for the amendment of the labour law,” Shipar said, adding that even a session of parliament had to be postponed to pass the recently amended law within the timeline.
Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, who was present in the meeting, equally regretted the haste in passing the labour law.
He admitted that the law was passed despite that fact that many issues were left unresolved in the previous TCC meeting.
These remarks instantly drew flaks from the labour leaders present at the meeting held at the BIAM auditorium.
Bangladesh Trade Union Council (BTUC) general secretary Wajed-ul Islam Khan said: “Workers are integral part of the industries. How the interest of the industries can be looked after without keeping the interest of the workers?”
“The workers were surprised to see the amendments made in the law,” he said, adding that the recommendations of the labour representatives were not incorporated in it.
The labour representatives earlier pressed home their demands in the 51st meeting of the TCC that were left unresolved at that time, but the law had already been passed, Wajed-ul Islam said.
Talking to UNB after the day’s 53rd TCC meeting, Socialist Labour Front general secretary Razequzzaman Ratan said that being a United Nations member and also an ILO member country, the government of Bangladesh required to have consultations in the TCC before enacting any new labour law or amendment.
Ratan also mentioned that some new provisions have been included in the latest amendment to the labour law without prior consultation with the workers.
“Most of these inclusions were done to curb the rights of workers and create new complexities. For example, the changes in section 23.3 of the law make the termination of a worker easier than before,” he said.
Source: UNB Connect
