The government is considering incorporating festival allowance in the existing law aiming to ensure the benefits for all workers especially those of garment factories, State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque said Sunday. The garment sector often faces agitation over the issue of festival allowance ahead of Eid as there is no official benchmark for such benefits. Despite having no obligation, factory owners usually pay additional money to their workers during every Eid festival on humanitarian grounds, the minister said, adding that but payment often triggers protests as each factory has different rate of festival allowance. “We are actively considering the issue, although it will take sometime to bring necessary changes to the existing law. But we are trying to do it shortly so that workers get the benefits from next Eid-ul-Azha,” he said while addressing a press briefing held at his secretariat office in the city. Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) in a letter last month requested the government to fix minimum festival allowance for workers to avoid unrest in garment hubs. Quoting the BKMEA proposal, Mr Haque said the government was actively considering their request. Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar and Inspector General of Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) Syed Ahmed, among others, were present at the briefing organised to disseminate the knowledge gained from the recent month-long training programme in Germany. A 24-member delegation including representatives from the government, garment factory management and workers participated in the training programme that shared knowledge on social safety net both in Germany and Bangladesh, social dialogue on workplace safety and establishment of an employment injury insurance scheme. It was informed in the training course that Germany had addressed most of its issues including ensuring safe workplace, fixing working hours and wages through social dialogue. Using the knowledge gained from the training programme, the government was planning to launch a pilot project on employment injury insurance in the garment sector after discussing it with stakeholders. Replying to a query, the minister said the rules on labour law would be sent to the press within a week.
