An alumni group comprising government, employer and trade union representatives was launched Thursday to help facilitate the development of a social protection scheme in Bangladesh for the people suffering from workplace injury. A total of 48 group members took part in recent international study visits and exchange programmes organised with the support of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the German government to help them better understand the principles and operations of employee injury schemes. Group members include representatives of the ministry of labour and employment, ministry of health, ministry of commerce, National Coordination Committee for Worker Education (NCCWE), IndustriAll Bangladesh Council (IBC), the Bangladesh Employers Federation (BEF), the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) as well as workers from garment factories. “The alumni group will support the retention and application of knowledge acquired from the visits. Group members will also facilitate others to understand more about workplace cooperation, occupational safety and health as well as social safety net initiatives at the factory levels,” said state minister for labour Md Mujibul Haque while speaking at the launch of the group. The government of Bangladesh is currently collaborating with the ILO and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH to establish an Employment Injury Protection and Rehabilitation scheme in Bangladesh. In the initial phase, this will focus on the ready-made garment sector. In November 2015, some 17 participants travelled to Cambodia and Malaysia to gain first-hand experience of how employment injury insurance schemes in those countries operate and the challenges they face. Under two exchange visits to Germany in August 2015 and April 2016 the 48 participants studied the impact of social dialogue mechanisms on working conditions, workers’ welfare and competitiveness. “Building institutional capacity will be a major challenge when establishing an Employment Injury Protection and Rehabilitation scheme in Bangladesh. This alumni group should provide the nucleus for these efforts and make a major contribution to the scheme’s development,” said Schultheiss, Chargé d’Affaires, German Embassy, Dhaka. ILO county director for Bangladesh Srinivas Reddy, said, “Those who took part in the study tours are encouraged to act as agents of change in promoting social dialogue and workplace injury compensation.” This alumni forum will help facilitate information sharing, discussion and debate to help develop a sustainable employment injury protection and rehabilitation programme for the country, he added. A working group will also be formed from amongst the alumni. This will undertake advocacy initiatives to sensitise factory owners to the need for injury prevention and rehabilitation. It will also foster relationships between government officials, union leaders, industry and development partners. The Rana Plaza collapse and the subsequent efforts to provide compensation to the victims highlighted the need for a national scheme to support employees and their families in event of accidents or injury at work. In October 2015, the ILO and the German government signed an agreement with the government of Bangladesh to establish a national Employment Injury Protection and Rehabilitation scheme.
