DHAKA: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs held a meeting on the draft EPZ labour act on Thursday (September 29).
The meeting listened observations on the draft law from the representatives of investors, workers’ organizations and development partners including the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Wishing anonymity a source, who attended the meeting, said the representatives had been very critical of the draft EPZ labour law and suggested for bring the EPZs under the coverage of the national labour law, the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 (which was amended in 2013).
Representing the ILO, Karen Curtis, Head of the Freedom of Association (FoA) Branch urged for overhauling the draft EPZ act which is now pending in the standing committee for scrutiny and recommended for ensuring full freedom of association rights under the labour act for workers within the EPZs.
Traveling from Geneva to attend the meeting, she also recommended bringing the labour inspection mechanisms at the EPZSs under the national authority, the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE).
ILO had been critical of the existing EPZ Workers Welfare Association and Industrial Relations Act, 2010 (EWWAIRA) for limiting workers right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.
ILO’s Committee of Experts of the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) had urged the government to allow full freedom of association in the EPZs including the right to be associated with workers’ organizations outside the EPZs, according to a release available on the ILO website.
Also, ILO’s high-level tripartite mission on freedom of association (Convention 87) which was in Bangladesh in April this year has called upon the government to promote harmonization of the labour law throughout the country so that the rights, inspection and judicial review of violation of workers’ rights and enforcement mechanism on labour issues are equal for all workers and employers in the country, irrespective of in the EPZs or outside.
The representatives of the EPZ investors’ association had recommended for having a single national law in the country, and bringing EPZs under the labour act. They also in principle agreed for allowing trade unions in the EPZs.
The meeting, chaired by committee’s chairman Suranajit Sengupta, MP, was attended by the committee members including the Law Minister Anisul Huq.
On invitation, Karen Curtis, Head of Freedom of Association Branch, ILO Geneva; Gagan Rajbhandari, Deputy Director, ILO Bangladesh; Kihak Sung, Bangladesh EPZ Investors Association (BEPZIA); and Chairman of the Youngone Group; workers’ rights activist Dr. Wajedul Islam Khan from the SKOP; and Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), among others, spoke at the meeting.
Representatives from the European Union, US Embassy, and Canadian High Commission also attended the meeting.
Udatta Bikash writes this article
BDST: 0856 HRS, OCT 01, 2016
SR
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