Govt to send draft labour law amendment to ILO

The government has completed its preparation to send the final draft copy of the proposed amendment to the existing labour law to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) within a day or two regarding allowing the trade unionism in the garments sector.

The expert committee 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, according to a news agency.

The decision came at a meeting held at the secretariat here today. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Law Minister Anisul Huq and State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque Chunnu attended it.

All three ministers discussed the recent feedbacks of the ILO on the amendment to the labour law that Bangladesh committed in the International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva in June last year.

The expert committee of ILO will give its feedback on the proposed amendment to labour law of Bangladesh in February next year.

Both the commerce minister and law minister refrained from making any comment on the decision of the meeting, saying that they would not tell anything about it before informing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina about the matter.

"We want to discuss it with the Prime Minister first. We are hopeful that we will be able to satisfy the ILO," Tofail Ahmed told reporters.

"For implementation of the ILO observations, we've taken some decisions, including the amendment to the labour law upholding the interest of the country," said the law minister.

The EU, the US and ILO have been putting pressure on the government for amendment to the labour law for the workers both inside and outside of the Export Processing Zones.

In the previous amendment to the labour law in July 2013, the government put a provision of 30 percent workers for forming a trade union, which the rights groups think main barriers for the full freedom of association at the factory level.