Summary:

The International Labour Organization (“ILO”) has postponed a judgment on whether or not to take further action against Bangladesh. Conventions 87 on freedom of association and the right to organize were allegedly suspended in Dhaka. The complainants also urged establishing a commission of inquiry on Bangladesh’s failure to follow the norms. Bangladesh has been placed on notice by the International Labor Organization (ILO) to improve working conditions. A Commission of Inquiry is the highest-level examination that the ILO can conduct in a country.

Content:

The ILO has postponed a judgment on whether or not to take further action against Bangladesh for violating three basic principles until November.

In its draft resolution, the ILO further encouraged the Bangladesh government to report on additional progress made in accordance with the strategy at the 346th Session, which would take place in November 2022.

Labor delegates from Italy, Japan, South Africa, Pakistan, and Brazil requested an inquiry commission against Bangladesh’s government at the 108th ILO session in mid-June 2019. Conventions 87 on freedom of association and the right to organize, convention 98 on the right to organize and collective bargaining, and convention 81 on labor inspection were all allegedly suspended in Dhaka. The complainants also urged establishing a commission of inquiry on Bangladesh’s failure to follow the norms. Later, in November 2020, the ILO requested that Bangladesh establish a time-bound roadmap to address all of the complainants’ issues.

Bangladesh then produced a time-bound plan with a series of concrete initiatives aligned with the schedule in four priority areas. Labor law reform, trade union registration, labor inspection and enforcement, and combating anti-union discrimination/unfair labor practices and violence against employees are the four main areas. On September 30 of last year, Bangladesh presented its first progress report to the ILO on the four topics. At the 344th governing body meeting this week, the country also submitted the most recent progress report.

Meanwhile, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) issued a statement on Wednesday urging Bangladesh to improve labor conditions by November or face a Commission of Inquiry, stating that the country has been placed on notice. A Commission of Inquiry is the highest-level examination that the ILO can conduct into a country that consistently fails to respect workers’ rights, according to the statement. The ILO has only established 14 commissions of investigation. According to the ITUC statement, a probe into Bangladesh would place the country alongside Belarus, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe, which have all recently been the subject of inquiries.

It claimed that the ILO’s roadmap to improve working conditions in Bangladesh has devolved into a catalog of failed promises made by the government, with grave consequences for workers.

Deaths at work in Bangladesh are reported on a weekly basis, along with violent attacks on workers and harassment and intimidation of trade union members.

“While failing to make any serious progress to strengthen labor regulations, the government continues to ignore these fatalities and brutal attacks on its own citizens,” stated ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

“The ILO has prescribed that workers’ rights be improved, but the government’s continuous failure to take the medicine that will save employees’ lives and provide decent work is inexplicable.”

Pic Source: IndustriALL Global Union

Article Source: Financial Express