DHAKA: The government has initiated to adopt a new law to be applicable in the export processing zones (EPZ) in Bangladesh.
The draft law has already been placed in Bangladesh Parliament as “Bangladesh EPZ Labour Bill, 2016”, which is now under the scrutiny of the Standing Committee on the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs of the Bangladesh Parliament. There is a likelihood for the bill to be passed as an Act by the house any time soon.
However, there have been serious concerns on the draft EPZ law (which has already now turned as a Bill) considering its limitations and restrictions in regard to exercise of freedom of association (FoA) and collective bargaining by workers.
The proposed law has been build-up, most of provisions in relation to conditions of employment and service, maternity benefit, health and hygiene, safety, welfare measures, working hours and leave, wage and payment etc., in line with the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 (BLA, which is also not beyond criticism in light of the international labour standards).
However, the draft EPZ law deviated from the BLA mentionably on two important issues - freedom of association including the right to trade unions and labour inspection, among others.
The proposed EPZ law does not prescribe for trade unions for workers which newspaper wrongly reporting. It maintained as the Workers’ Welfare Association (WWA) like the existing law. (It neither does allow trade unions by employers as well).
Before going into the contents of the new/proposed law, let us look into the existing one. The current applicable law is the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) Workers Welfare Association and Industrial Relations Act of 2010 (Act No. 43 of 2010). From the title of the law, it is cleared that the same is for prescribing the WWA, not trade union. It is applicable for the title as well as formation process, mandate etc.
The Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) of the International Labour Organization (ILO) has been very critical of the 2010 Act and been continuing to urge the government (through its observations) to ensure that the laws governing the EPZs allows for full freedom of association, including to form trade unions and to associate with trade unions outside the EPZs, among other issues.
The committee has been critical of some sections of the existing 2010 EPZ Act which are: Section 12 (Application process for registration of the WWA), Section 16 (Prohibition on formation of the WWA at a newly established industrial unit), Section 20 (Election of the Executive Committee to the WWA), Section 21 (Approval of the Executive Committee), Section 24 (Federations of the WWA), Section 28 (Cancellation of the registration of the WWA), Section 34 (Unfair labour practices by workers or the association), Section 38 (Check-off), Section 46 (Strike and lock-out), and Section 80 (Prohibition on relations with political organizations).
Those provisions have remained same in the proposed new law except few ‘cosmetic changes’ in sentences, not of the contents.
Reportedly the respective department of the ILO has reviewed the draft EPZ labour law and had commended that it falls short of the expectations of the ILO Supervisory Bodies in respect of the application of the two related Conventions, i.e., Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).
The draft Act has proposed as much as 10 to 11 steps to follow in formation and getting approval for the Workers’ Welfare Association (WWA), and does allow “excessive interventions” by the authority in formation and approval processes of the same.
Those cumbersome steps are: (1) Submission of application to the Executive Chairman of the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) with support of 30% workers of a given enterprise regarding formation of the Workers’ Welfare Association (WWA), (2) Verification of 30% support by the Executive Chairman, (3) If satisfied regarding 30% support, then the BEPZA is to send one set of the application to the employer for arranging a referendum, (4) Minimum 50% votes of total workers is required for validation of the said referendum; 50% of the casted votes have to be in support of the formation of the WWA (Section 96), and if referendum goes against formation of the WWA, no referendum in next one year, (5) If referendum succeeds, workers shall form a committee for drafting the constitution of the WWA (not clear which workers to do that, Sec 97), (6) Approval of the constitution by the BEPZA, (7) Application for registration of the WWA to the BEPZA, (8) Registration of the said WWA (Sec 104), (9) Issuance
of registration certificate by the BEPZA, (10) Election for formation of the executive committee of the WWA (Sec 109), and (11) Approval of the executive committee by the BEPZA Executive Chairman (Sec 110).
The EPZ law also prescribes one WWA per establishment, which also allowed to act as the collective bargain agent (CBA).
Article 2 of the ILO Convention 87 guarantees the right of workers (and employers) to establish organization ‘without previous authorization’ from the public authorities. Thus, the proposed law is a contradiction to the standards.
The workers’ rights activists reported that the ILO has communicated its expert-comments on the draft EPZ act to the respective authority long ago. There have been two high-level delegations to Bangladesh as well during 2014 and 2015 which have noted their grave concerns on some provisions of the draft EPZ law. However, allegedly, there has been no change so far on the law based on the comments from the ILO- especially in regard to the freedom of association.
Also, there has been no publicly reported consultation processes in drafting stages of the new EPZ law. No national-level workers’ organization has been consulted as alleged by the same.
The draft act has been made publicly available upon turning it into a bill in April this year, and made available since then through the website of the Department of Press and Publications.
It is gathered that the national platform of workers - Shromik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP) or Workers-Employees Unity Council lately submitted their comments of the draft law to the Chairman of the Standing Committee on the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. The Committee is likely to go for a hearing on the matter.
The ILO’s expert committee (CEACR) also had called on the Government of Bangladesh to carry out full consultation with workers’ and employers’ organizations so that new legislation for the EPZ becomes in conformity with the provision of the international labour standards, especially that of the ILO Convention No. 87.
The EU Compact agreement has prescribed for improve of exercise of freedom of association and collective bargain in the EPZ (by workers) and bring application of the national labour law (BLA) over the EPZs, including the authority of the national labour inspection system there.
However, from the (draft) law (and now a bill) it appears that the government has failed to meet the criteria of the Compact in that regard.
The western diplomats stationed in Dhaka have reportedly been sharing their annoyance and concerns on the draft law for the EPZ, and had communicated the same at the meeting of the 3 + 5 (a form of three Secretaries and five Ambassadors including that of the USA and EU, and coordinated by the Ministry of Commerce) last month.
Udatta Bikash writes this article
BDST: 2136 HRS, SEP 27, 2016
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