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PM’s call to shun ‘complaining’ to foreigners

Published : Tuesday, 10 May, 2022 at 12:00 AM  Count : 697

PM’s call to shun ‘complaining’ to foreigners

PM’s call to shun ‘complaining’ to foreigners

While addressing a function marking the historic May Day from her official residence at Ganobhaban, the prime minister criticised and urged a section of labour leaders to refrain from complaining to foreigners against the country. In addition, the PM also stressed the need for maintaining a cordial relation between industrial owners and workers for continuing the smooth flow of development.

We are in the same view of the PM and we believe, in terms of fulfilling labour rights it is pointless complaining to foreigners. It is up to the government's authorities concerned as well as all private entities and citizens to ensure labour rights in Bangladesh.

The point, however, it is not that labour rights are not being violated in the country. In fact, it has been reported in some international media outlets that repressive laws, obstacles to union formation, and 'brutal repression' of strikes make Bangladesh one of the worst countries in the world for working people. This, however, is not true to a greater extent and those who complain and spoon-feed foreign governments and media agencies with fabricated details, particularly a section of labour leaders, are only tarnishing the country's global image.

Calls for a reminder, Our Constitution ensures in article 15(c) that everyone has the right to reasonable rest and leisure. The Constitution also protects workers from all kinds of exploitation under article 14. Labour rights have largely been protected in Bangladesh by the Labour Act of 2006. Sections 100 and 108 have fixed daily working hours for a labour that should not exceed 8 hours and 10 hours including overtime respectively. Moreover, Child labour has been strictly prohibited under section 34 of the Labour Act.

True that a number of challenges exist in the road to establish workers' rights to full extent, and we believe lax in enforcing the labour law is one of them.

Nevertheless, we are a nation of laws and we have ratified international conventions, yet we remain averse to giving workers the rights that are theirs by law. And the essential obligations to fulfil the legal demands of labours must be first comprehended from within, meaning - unless we learn to respect workers as human beings who toil in our factories and our homes, there can be no meaningful change.

Last of all, Good faith social dialogue must be the basis for upholding workers' rights and negotiating settlements to grievances rather than complaining to external forces. On that note - it is only good for belligerent labour leaders to concurrently engage in regular dialogues with the public and private sectors.






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