The government has started the process of amending the labour law and the EPZ labour law under the pressure of the International Labour Organisation and the European Union.“I am hopeful that the preparation of the draft of the amendment to the labour law is possible by the end of August,” Mikail Shipar, labour secretary, told The Daily Star yesterday.Bangladesh in the last meeting of the International Labour Conference (ILC) held in Geneva in June committed to amending the labour law and the labour law of the export processing zones by the end of August.“We will bring in some basic changes during the amendment,” Shipar said, adding that he has already held meetings with representatives of the tripartite committee of the garment sector to discuss the issue.The government formed a tripartite council in March this year to resolve any crisis in the garment sector through dialogues. Shipar hinted that the government will bring down the worker percentage needed to form a trade union in a factory.The current law, which was hurriedly amended in July 2013 three months after the Rana Plaza building collapse, requires collection of signatures of 30 percent of the workers in a factory to form a trade union.In the amendment suggested, if the factory has 500 workers, 30 percent must sign up for a trade union; if the number of workers is 5,000, 10-15 percent of them need to give their signatures.“However, all these are still in our plans. It is not finalised yet,” Shipar said.Bangladesh will need to submit the final amendment report to the ILO by November this year to convince the international communities, especially the EU, to continue to grant the country trade privileges.Shipar said the government will not allow more than three unions in a factory although the international communities demanded a higher number.Meanwhile, another branch of the government is working to amend the labour law of the EPZs, as per the demands of the ILC and EU.The EU has already sent letters to the government twice threatening the suspension of the GSP under the EU’s Everything But Arms scheme if the labour rights are not improved further.The government on Sunday formed a high-powered body headed by Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, principal secretary to the prime minister, for necessary amendments to the labour law.
