The rejection rate of applications seeking registration to form trade unions in the country’s readymade garment sector increased in Chittagong zone and decreased in Dhaka zone during last three years, sources said. They, however, attributed the lower number of acceptance of applications by Dhaka office to the declining trend of rejection over the years. The number of trade unions in garment factories increased significantly after the Rana Plaza building collapse that killed more than 1100 garment workers, they said. The number increased following global pressure. The rejection rate was 57 per cent in 2017, 50 per cent in 2016 and 16 per cent in 2015 in Chittagong, according to the Department of Labour (DoL) statistics. The rejection rate in Dhaka was 15 per cent, 30 per cent and 73 per cent in 2017, 2016 and 2015 respectively, it revealed. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) recently expressed its dissatisfaction over the high rate of rejection, especially in Chittagong zone. An expert committee of ILO noted that obstacles to registration remained and the labour directorate retained discretionary power to refuse registration. The ILO examined the allegations of continued arbitrary denial of trade union registration. According to the DoL data, a total of 489 trade unions have been registered in the RMG sector from 2013 to 2017, taking the total number to 632. In 2017, DoL at Chittagong gave registration to13 trade unions while it rejected 17 applications, out of 31, data showed. On the other hand, DoL Dhaka office received a total of 112 applications and rejected only 16, a total of 79 have been granted while 19 remained pending. The trade union registration application rejection rate was highest 73 per cent in Dhaka Zone in 2015, data showed. Labour leaders alleged that though the number of trade unions is increasing in the RMG sector, each year a good number of registration applications has been rejected on various grounds. Nazma Akter, president of Sammilito Garment Sramik Federation, opined that the factories in Dhaka are kept under strong watch both locally and internationally, which is less in Chittagong. She, however, attributed corruption and politics to such a high rate of trade union application rejection in Chittagong. Md Towhidur Rahman, secretary general of InduatriALL Bangladesh Council, said the rejection rate decreased in Dhaka because of lower acceptance of applications. Labour leaders alleged that Dhaka office does not accept any application if the proposed trade union’s president and secretary are not present during filing the application. In some cases, it also doesn’t accept application if a trade union exists in any establishment, they allege. Labour leaders alleged that the workers of Chittagong faced difficulties with getting trade unions registered due to controversial activities of labour director in the zone. “Some of the trade union applications have been rejected due to lack of proper documents,” a senior DoL official told the FE. Regarding the presence of both president and secretary, he said in some cases they found same names of president and secretary in other applications.
