Situation of Labour Rights in Bangladesh (With specific focus to RMG, Leather & Ship Breaking sectors) : A study corresponding to the complaints filed against Bangladesh based on article 26 of ILO convention”
31st August-1st September to 15thth October 2021
The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) is a non-profit German foundation funded by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, and headquartered in Bonn and Berlin. It was founded in 1925 and is named after Germany’s first democratically elected President, Friedrich Ebert. FES is committed to the advancement of both socio-political and economic development in the spirit of social democracy, through civic education, research, and international cooperation.
Activity and Services: MSB 27641059 Bangladesh ILO Complaint Research” – NRT conduct the research. The primary focusing area of this research are ‘to prove the scale and severity of the violation of ILO Conventions in the workplaces across different sectors of the Bangladeshi economy.’ The scope of research will involve both in-country documentation of workers testimony as well as a thorough analysis of the shortfalls of Bangladeshi labour law and EPZ law exposing workers to acts of anti-union discrimination, unfair labour practices and violence including matters related to minimum wage fixing and social protection for workers.
During the 108th session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) in June 2018, The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) raised concerns and filed complaints against the Government of Bangladesh by triggering Article 26 (The complaint procedure is governed by Articles 26 to 34 of the ILO Convention, under which a complaint may be filed against a member State for not complying with a ratified Convention by another member State which has ratified the same Convention, a delegate to the International Labour Conference or the Governing Body of its own motion).[1] To respond to that, the Government of Bangladesh in consultation with social partners, is supposed to adopt a time-bound roadmap towards addressing raised issues of anti-union discrimination, unfair labour practices, and violence against workers, including matters on wages determination and social protection.
In line with the aforesaid aspiration, ITUC assigned Network for Research and Training (NRT) to conduct research in Bangladesh on labour rights issues particularly on anti-union discrimination, unfair labour practices and violence against workers including matters on wages determination and social protection. The primary focus of the research is ‘to prove the scale and severity of rights violation in workplaces across different sectors of the Bangladeshi economy.
This report is evidence of an independent testimony based qualitative study, supplemented by the key actor’s opinion and secondary document search. Testimonies were collected from 20 workers engaged in three sectors, namely Readymade Garments Industry (from EPZ and out of EPZ factories), Leather Industry (particularly from Tannery Industries) and Shipbreaking Industry (Shipbreaking Yards).
[1] https://www.ilo.org/global/standards/applying-and-promoting-international-labour-standards/complaints/lang–en/index.htm#:~:text=The%20complaint%20procedure%20is%20governed,Labour%20Conference%20or%20the%20Governing