Workplace death and injury: Committee seeks to double compensation amount

The government is set to amend several provisions, including the one related to the compensation for workplace death and injury, in the labour law to raise the amount to Tk 0.2 million, officials said.

A tripartite committee tasked with working on amendments to the labour law has finalised the draft amendments.

In the draft, the committee proposed doubling the compensation amount, easing the procedures for formation of trade union and specifying anti-union discrimination and its disposal process, people involved in the process said.

On Wednesday, the government representatives in the committee proposed Tk 0.2 million as compensation for workplace death, as representatives of factory owners and workers were locked in a row over the fixation of compensation and failed to arrive at a consensus, they said.

The owners argued for the existing amount, saying that industrial sector cannot afford high compensation.

On the other hand, workers demanded Tk 0.9 million as compensation, the officials said.

According to the labour law, the amount of compensation is Tk 0.1 million in case of death and Tk 0.125 million for permanent disability.

When asked, State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque Chunnu told the FE: "We are considering the proposal for compensation hike. But before fixing the rate, the capacity of all the sectors needs to be taken into consideration."

A labour representative in the committee said, "We did not agree with the proposed compensation rate."

Contacted, Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies executive director Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed said if the government increases the compensation amount to only Tk 0.2 million, it would be nothing but a 'mockery' with the workers.

The draft amendments included reducing the existing minimum membership requirement for trade union registration to 20 per cent both for factories in and outside the country's Export Processing Zones (EPZs) from the existing 30 per cent, a committee member said.

Inspection in the EPZ factories by The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) along with their existing inspection system has also been proposed, he said.

The government wants to finalise the draft amendment to the labour law before the upcoming International Labour Conference to address the concerns of the ILO, meeting sources said.

The conference will be held in Geneva from May 28 to June 08.

The major ILO concerns included further amendment to the labour law and amendment to the EPZ Act in conformity with the labour law providing equal rights of freedom of association to all workers and bringing the EPZs within the purview of the labour inspectorate and stop anti-union discrimination.

The draft amendment also included allowing trade union for the security staff, fire-fighting staff and confidential assistants of any establishment and scrapping the provision of section 175 of the labour law, a committee member said.

"Anti-union discrimination is one of the major concerns of ILO," he said.

The draft has defined what would be treated as anti-union discrimination and how the issue would be addressed within 60 days of the filing of complaints, he said.

It also proposed scrapping the provision of the requirement of 10 per cent vote casting for CBA election, aiming to facilitate trade union activities, he added.

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