Bangladesh has reportedly agreed to ease the requirements for trade union registration in industries including the readymade garment sector as desired by the international community and rights groups.
According to the existing Labour Act, signatures of at least 30 per cent of the workers (in a factory) is required to form a trade union.
However, considering workers’ disinterest to participate in the election process of trade unions in fear of retribution by the management, it becomes a difficult task in many cases.
Under pressure from the rights groups, the requisite number of signatories might now be brought down to 15-20 per cent instead of the earlier 30.
It might be even lower for the larger factories.
The decision on the requirement of worker participation threshold to form trade union came at a meeting of the Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Law Minister Anisul Huq and State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque Chunnu at the secretariat in Dhaka on Tuesday.
The Labour Ministry has now decided to send fresh drafts of amended labour law and export processing zones law with further changes to the ILO within a day or two.
The Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) of the ILO is scheduled to start its three-week-long meeting in Geneva from today to review the labour practices by different countries including Bangladesh.
The CEACR will give its feedback on the proposed amendment of labour law of Bangladesh in February next year, said an official of ILO (Dhaka) office yesterday.
The European Union, the US and the ILO have been putting pressure on the Bangladesh Government to amend the labour law, including for workers employed in garment factories within the Export Processing Zones (EPZs).