A welfare association is not a trade union

On February 16, 2016, TDS published a lead report on the EPZ issue titled, “Trade union in EPZs gets nod,” referring to the decision of the cabinet meeting held on the previous day. But it is contrary to the fact and misleading. Actually the draft law has provided provisions for “Workers' Welfare Association” which cannot be termed as a trade union given its formation process and mandate. It is nothing new; 

The prescription of welfare associations, actually, prevent workers from forming and joining trade unions because the processes are very cumbersome and the regulatory authority, the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) has wide discretionary powers over the matter which is not reasonable and judicious. Given the observations from the Committee of Experts of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the government should consider urgently to standardise the EPZ labour law in line with the international labour standards. Also, it is not logical to have a separate labour law for the EPZs; rather, the jurisdiction of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 (with amendment in 2013) should be expanded to the EPZs.

Udatta Bikash, Ph. D.
Lawyer and Researcher
Shankar, Dhaka