The European Union yesterday called for a single labour law for all workers of Bangladesh — including those employed at factories housed inside the export processing zones. Arne Lietz, a member of the European Parliament, made the demand at a press conference after a meeting with the leaders of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association at the capital’s Westin Hotel.“I think there are different laws for different issues on the table and these need to be aligned. We have to have the same standards,” he said.Otherwise, it does not make sense to just empower workers on one side.“In the end, it’s all about the citizens of the country. All citizens should have the same rights, like they have the right to be educated, the right for gender equality in all scales.”Therefore, the workers in the EPZs should have the same rights as the rest, Lietz said. “There should not be an extra law.”Currently, more than 4.40 lakh workers are employed in eight EPZs across the country with nearly 500 factories in operation.The EU has been urging the government for a common labour law as the amended one of 2013 allowed only the workers employed in factories outside of the EPZs full freedom of association.In the EPZ law there are Workers Welfare Associations that act as collective bargaining agents for the EPZ workers.However, investors from some countries do not want the introduction of trade unionism inside of the EPZs. The EPZs have more than $3.74 billion of investment from home and abroad locked in. Nearly $7 billion worth of goods were exported in 2015-16 from the EPZs.Lietz said the rights of the workers have to be acknowledged in a much bigger and important way.The fact-finding mission has already talked with the government and the intellectuals in the European Union on the issues of labour rights in Bangladesh.He urged the government and the garment factory owners to continue dialogue under the tripartite agreement that was signed among the government, trade unions and businessmen to resolve the labour crisis in Ashulia in December last year.Some countries including the Netherlands, the UK and Canada have shown keen interest for more and better labour standards or of the ILO standards, Lietz said.Bangladesh made very successful progress in labour rights and the country has accomplished a lot through the last decade, he said, while lauding the country’s successes in poverty alleviation and implementation of the Millennium Development Goals.“We have been working together for further development of the labour situation. We have highlighted our progresses we made in workplace safety and labour rights after the Rana Plaza incident,” said Siddiqur Rahman, president of the BGMEA.The EU delegation demanded amendment of the labour law, particularly the requirement of signatures of 30 percent of the workers in a particular garment factory to form a trade union, said a BGMEA leader after the meeting.Signatures of 10 percent of the workers suffice, the delegation said at the meeting, while also demanding the amendment of some clauses of the labour laws of 2013.Recently, the EU also sent a letter to the commerce ministry threatening the withdrawal of the trade benefits for Bangladesh if the labour rights situation is not improved further.The withdrawal of the trade benefits would mean Bangladesh will have to pay 12.5 percent duty on the export of goods to the EU.Bangladesh raked in $18.68 billion from its exports to the EU in fiscal 2015-16, which was 54.57 percent of the total receipts for the year.Of the $18.68 billion, $17.15 billion came from apparel shipments. The EU currently accounts for over 62 percent of all Bangladesh’s garment export receipts in a year.
