EPZ Labour Act to protect rights of workers, owners

Both workers and owners of industrial zones under the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) will enjoy their rights as enshrined in the Bangladesh EPZ (export processing zone) Labour Act, 2019.

The Prime Minister's Office issued a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) in this connection on Thursday.

The order incorporated a provision on the EPZ Labour Act saying that the act would be applicable to the owners and workers of industrial units in the country's all economic zones under the BEZA.

Employment of workers, relations between workers and employers, fixation of minimum rates of wages, payment of wages, compensation for injuries to workers during working hours, health and safety issues in EPZs or Economic Zones would be determined as per the EPZ Labour Act.

The government earlier passed the Bangladesh EPZ Labour Act, 2019 abolishing the EPZ Workers Welfare Association and Industrial Relation Act (EWWAIRA) under pressure from both local and international rights groups.

Labour leaders, however, opposed it saying there should not be two laws for workers of a country. They said the move would deprive workers of their fundamental rights.

Though the government brought changes in many areas of the previous EWWAIRA, the International Labour Organisation Committee of Experts observed violations of the freedom of association and other conventions related to right to form or join unions.

Recently, a number of member countries filed complaints against Bangladesh over violation of ILO conventions and proposed formation of a commission for inquiry against the country, sources said.

At the concluding session of International Labour Conference held in Geneva in June last, workers' delegates from Italy, Pakistan, South Africa, Brazil and Japan complained that Bangladesh was not following the ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association and the Convention 98 on right to organise and bargain collectively and the Convention 81 on labour inspection.

In the complaints the member countries alleged that workers were denied fundamental rights in export processing zones as the new law was not consistent with the ILO conventions, they added.

Salahuddin Shapon, former secretary general of IndustriALL Bangladesh Council, said introducing two types of laws for workers in a single country is nothing but violation of human rights.

"Bangladesh Labour Act should be applicable to the workers and owners of all industrial units in and outside special economic zones. Otherwise minimum rights of workers would not be protected," he said.

The government has taken move to set up 100 economic zones by 2030 that would create jobs for about 10 million people.

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