STANDARDS–RIGHTS NEXUS IN ACTION IN BANGLADESH:

TRANSFORMING LABOUR STANDARDS INTO WORKERS’ RIGHTS

Jakir Hossain, PhD

Associate Professor
Institute of Bangladesh Studies,
University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh
 STANDARDS–RIGHTS NEXUS IN ACTION IN BANGLADESH:
TRANSFORMING LABOUR STANDARDS INTO WORKERS’ RIGHTS

Jakir Hossain, PhD

Associate Professor
Institute of Bangladesh Studies,
University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh
jakir1034@yahoo.co.uk

May 2013
 STANDARDS–RIGHTS NEXUS IN ACTION IN BANGLADESH:
TRANSFORMING LABOUR STANDARDS INTO WORKERS’ RIGHTS

Abstract

Labour standards are promoted at the ILO member states level with the
presumption that the provisions would translate into rights for the workers.
It is, however, neither known whether such translation takes place, nor do
we know if the transformative action is at play, to what extent that is a
reflection of international standards promoted. This article explores
whether and to what extent labour rights provisions in Bangladesh’s laws
are reflections of international labour standards. I argue that standards
promoted at local level hardly reflect the availability of standards, rather is
the outcome of how the trade-off between the conflicting interests of
workers and employers are played and balanced.

1. INTRODUCTION
Most developed and developing countries accept the labour standards—the minimal rules
that govern how people are treated in a working environment—as rights that need to be
uphold and enforced. Nearly every developing country has ratified some of the
Conventions of the ILO. Such standard provisions in varied forms have been introduced
with the presumption that the standard provisions would translate into rights provisions for
workers.
The standard provisions are expected to translate into three forms of rights
providing access to employment opportunities, which are fair and equal without
discrimination (right to work), promoting just and favorable conditions of work including
healthy and safe working conditions (right at work), and ensuring adequate standard of
living (right through work) for workers. Standards and rights are differentiated in terms of
common legalistic interpretation; human rights/ labour rights exist, because the majority of
the states of the world have ratified a certain number of human rights treaties/ labour rights
conventions, or because national constitution or law confers rights on their citizens. Thus,
standards translate into rights when those are reflected in some forms in national legal
instruments.

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 Since its inception in 1919, the ILO has adopted 189 conventions and various
recommendations for protecting and ensuring the rights of the working classes.
Bangladesh, being a member of the ILO and signatory to many of these conventions, is
obliged to promote and protect rights at the national level. The expected transformative
action for Bangladesh’s workers is that its law provisions should reflect in principle the
labour standards provisions enshrined in the international labour standards. The reflection
of the major standards are expected in the current Bangladesh labour law because, first, it
is a recent (2006) compilation of previous laws which were in operation into a single act
of law—Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 (BLA 2006), and second, it is widely considered to
be comprehensive in nature; broad aspects of worker rights, and labour and industrial
relations including special provisions for specific worker groups are under its purview.
However, it is neither known whether such translation takes place, nor do we know if the
transformative action is at play, to what extent that is a reflection of overall standards
provisions, and whether it has differential outcome for three different forms of workers’
rights.
Whether or not the standards provisions translate to rights for Bangladesh’s
industrial workers is discernable from the availability of similar provisions/ instruments in
national legal standards. However, to make a judgment to what extent the labour standards
have translated to workers’ rights, a mere availability and coverage of contents of the
instruments are hardly explicit in terms applicability of legal provisions denoting clear
recognition of obligations, and protection and recourse through enforcement mechanisms.
The translation, thus, takes a form of or variable in between no translation (narrow
coverage with minor protection and low recourse) at the one end and on the other full
translation (broad coverage with strong protection and full recourse). I argue in this article
that standards promoted at local level hardly reflect the availability of standards
provisions, rather is the outcome of how the trade-off between the conflicting interests of
workers and employers are played and balance in between are achieved within the overall
vision and logic of action of industrial and labour relations.
This article is divided into three core sections. The three sections respectively
analyze whether and to what extent standards and rights nexus are in action for workers in
terms of three forms of rights (right to work, right at work, and right through work)
juxtaposing provisions of Bangladesh’s labour laws with standards applicable to workers.

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A. Right to Work
Adequate provisioning and lacking barriers to access to employment are the keys to right
to work. I focus on a number of indicators germane to providing Bangladesh’s workers’
right to work. These are (a) employment contract; (b) elimination of child labour and
protection of adolescent; (c) protection against forced and compulsory labour; and (d)
protection against discrimination at workplace.

Employment Contract
Numerous international standards exist on employment contract. The ILO, as principle,
through the Declaration of Philadelphia emphasized the dignity of labour, and stressed that
labour was not to be treated as a commodity. The ILO Convention 122 (Employment
Policy Convention, 1964) calls for member states to declare and pursue an active policy
designed to promote full, productive, and freely chosen employment. It provides
guidelines for ensuring that (a) there is work for all who are available for and seeking
work; (b) such work is as productive as possible; and (c) there is freedom of choice of
employment and the fullest possible opportunity for each worker to qualify for, and to use
skills and endowments in a job for which the person is well suited, irrespective of race,
color, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin (ILO Convention
122, Article1).
The protection to workers afforded by the BLA is applicable to most industrial
workers who are employees and have an identifiable employer with whom they have an
employment relationship. It provides numerous provisions on contractual arrangements
e.g., appointment letter and identity card, service book, employee register, as well as
detailed guidelines on job termination both by workers and employers. Under the law, it is
compulsory for every employer to issue appointment letter and identity card with
photograph to all workers (Section 5), and maintain a register of workers (Section 9). The
employers at their own cost should maintain service books for workers (Section 6).
However, lacking mandatory nature makes the law ineffective. Giving a copy of the
service book to the workers is not binding. Employers are not required to provide service
books to the apprentice, exchange or casual workers (Section 6).
Workers have the right to resign from the job after giving notice in writing to the
employer or surrendering wages equal for variable notice period (Section 27). In the case
of job termination of a permanent worker, the employer should compensate for every
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completed year of service, or provide gratuity whichever is higher (Section 27).
Employers are also entitled to terminate workers by ways such as retrenchment, discharge,
and dismissal. An employer can dismiss a worker without serving prior notice if the
worker is (a) convicted for any criminal offence; or (b) proved guilty of misconduct
(Section 23). The employer is also allowed to terminate worker without explaining any
reason by giving a written notice.
These provisions on employment contracts as well as on job termination guidelines
show that there is a strong coverage of standards. However, the inherent weaknesses of the
provisions have left rights provisions to be ineffective. Job-termination procedures are
riddled with time-binding concerns. BLA has prescribed different notice-period for
termination, varying according to the status of the workers—sixty days, thirty days and
fourteen days for permanent, temporary but monthly basis, and other workers respectively.
An employer is not required to assign any reason to terminate a worker. Moreover, the
notice period for the temporary workers in this regard is quite short—30 days and 14 days
for workers respectively employed on a monthly and on other basis. In the case of
retrenchment and discharge, a worker must complete minimum one-year service to get
financial benefits. The provision of dismissal is exploitative in nature; it allows
termination of workers without prior notice. This provision deprives a worker from
compensation when dismissed due to misconduct which is easily provable by the
employers due to its wide scope of interpretation.
Based on the availability of provisions in the national law on employment contract
similar to those provisions laid out in the standards, the standards have mostly translated if
not fully to rights provisions. However, a lens on the effectiveness of such provisions
provides a different scale of translations, hardly translated. Overall, the standard
provisions translation to workers’ rights can be categorized as strong coverage but limited
protection with low recourse.

Elimination of Child Labour and Protection of Adolescent

The obligations as of ILO Conventions on child labour are related to age of children, and
permissible work by children. Each member of the ILO is obliged to pursue a national
policy designed to ensure effective abolition of child labour and to establish the minimum
age for admission to employment to a level consistent with the fullest physical and mental
development of young persons (ILO Convention 138, Article1). The children under the

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age of 15 years are not permitted to be employed in any public or private industrial
undertaking except special circumstances. National laws or regulations may permit
children to be employed in undertakings in which only members of the employer’s family
are employed (ILO Convention 59, Article 2). Developing countries are, however, entitled
to relax age of children to 12 years for light work not harmful for health, development, and
education (ILO Convention 138). Every employer is however required to maintain a
register of all persons under the age of eighteen years (ILO Convention 59, Article 4).
According to BLA, no children below 14 years are allowed to work, and the
parents or guardians of a child shall not make any agreement with any person or
establishment, to allow the service of the child. However, the law also proclaims that a
child who has completed twelve years of age is permitted to be employed in such light
work which is not harmful for health and development or must not hamper education, and
the hours of such school going child must be so arranged that do not impede school
attendance (Section 34, 35, 44). The rules barring adolescent in hazardous, unsafe or
unhealthy employment are detailed in the labour law (Section34.2).
The available labour law provisions comply with the provisions of the ILO, even
though Bangladesh is not a signatory to the relevant ILO conventions (Convention 59 and
138). Bangladesh’s standard on elimination of child labour and protection of adolescent
make use of the exemption provision that is available for developing countries in setting
the minimum age of employable children. The relaxation of rule on age of children to 12
years for light work not harmful for health, development, and education, in effect, allow
employment of children in general since the law does not define what constitutes light
work, and also because it is difficult due to lack of birth registration system to ascertain
the age of workers. Thus, in terms of availability the translation of standards to rights may
be categorized as mostly translated, but in terms of effectiveness of those provisions have
translated partly, denoting an overall categorization of translation in between partly to
mostly—strong coverage with partial protection and partial recourse.

Protection against Forced and Compulsory Labour

Forced labour is defined by ILO as, “all work or services which is extracted from any
person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered
himself voluntarily” (Convention 29, Article 2.1). Bangladesh has ratified relevant ILO
Conventions. Forced labour is strictly prohibited as per the constitutional framework.
Article 34 of the Constitution states “All forms of forced labour are prohibited and any
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contravention of this provision shall be an offence and shall be punishable in accordance
with the Law.” There is no specific provision in its labour law, nor is it defined. However,
all forms of forced labour are prohibited and any contravention of this provision is
punishable offence in accordance with Bangladesh’s civil law. Thus, in terms of
availability and effectiveness of the provisions, the standards provisions have translated
fully—broad coverage with strong protection and full recourse.

Protection against Discrimination at Workplace

Discrimination at work is defined by the ILO as “any distinction, exclusion or preference
made on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or
social origin which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity and
treatment in employment or occupation” (Convention 111, Article1). ILO adopted the
equal remuneration convention (ILO, Convention 100) to prevent discrimination in
employment providing for the application of equal remuneration for men and women
workers for work of equal value. As regards protection against discrimination in terms of
treatment and facilities, according to ILO Convention 111 (Article 2), member countries
are obliged to promote equal opportunity and treatment in respect of employment and
occupation.
Bangladesh’s law provisions relating to protection against discrimination mainly
are focused on wage and sex. Employers are obliged to ensure equal wages for male and
female workers for work of equal nature or value, and no discrimination should be made
on the ground of sex (BLA 2006, Section345). The positive aspect of the current law is
that in line with the ILO provision, it mentions the principle of wage setting is equal pay
for equal value of work. However, the current provision lacks specific provisions on
discrimination related to workplace facilities and treatment. Again, only the sex of
workers has been considered as discrimination ground; different other grounds of
discrimination e.g., race, religion, ethnicity, and age is not included. This omission
contrasts with Bangladesh’s Constitutional stands against discrimination on the grounds of
religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (Article 28, Bangladesh Constitution). In view
of these, standards in terms of availability have partly translated into rights, but in terms of
effectiveness, the translation may be considered as mostly translated. This is due to fact
that the presence of strong Constitutional guidelines against discrimination makes the
available provisions mostly applicable if not fully.

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 In summary, the standards have been translated partly. A difference is evident in
terms of availability and effectiveness of the provisions translated. With the only
exception of protection against forced and compulsory labour which has fully translated in
terms of both availability and effectiveness, overall availability of the rights provisions
indicate that standards have been translated mostly but in terms of effectiveness it is partly
translated.

B. Rights at Work
The key provisions of right at work relate to promoting just and favorable conditions of
work, to ensure sanitary, healthy, and safe working conditions. In this section, I focus on a
number of provisions e.g., working hour and rate of overtime, leave and rest, occupational
health and safety, welfare facility for the analysis of whether and to what extent standards
and rights nexus is in action for Bangladesh’s workers.

Working Hours
According to the ILO Convention 1 regarding hours of work, the working hours of persons
should not exceed eight hours in a day and forty eight hours in a week. There are
flexibility clauses to allow average hours and exceptions. The limit of hours of work may
be exceeded to fifty six in the week in cases of processes carried on continuously by a
succession of shifts (ILO Convention1, Article 4). The maximum of additional hours in
each instance should however be fixed after consultation with the organizations of
employers and workers (ILO Convention Article 6.2). To protect women as well as
adolescent from non-standard working conditions, the ILO has provided specific
provisions on night duty restriction; women without distinction of age are not to be
employed during the night in any public or private industrial undertaking, other than an
undertaking in which only members of the same family are employed (ILO Convention
89). Young persons under eighteen years of age are also barred from working during the
night (ILO Convention 90).
BLA 2006 allows every adult worker to work without overtime, maximum eight
hours a day and forty eight hours a week (Section 100). An adult worker may be employed
for work of 10 hours a day and more than 48 hours a week on condition of giving overtime
allowance for extra working hours, but the daily and weekly maximum overtime work
should not exceed more than two hours and 12 respectively, and the total hours of work of
an adult worker shall not exceed 60 in any week and on the average 56 hours per week in
any year (BLA 2006, Section 100 & 102).
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 In terms of night duty restriction, it proclaims that no female worker is allowed to
work without her consent between the hours of ten o’clock in the evening and six o’clock
in the morning, and for young workers the forbidden work hours is between the hours of
seven o’clock in the evening and seven o’clock in the morning (Section 109 and 41.3).
Bangladesh has ratified the ILO Convention 1, and the current labour law in terms
of availability of provisions complies with the labour standards regarding average daily
and weekly work hour, and night duty restriction of young workers, but contradicts with
night duty standards for women workers. Though, the law prohibits employers to employ
women workers for the hours between ten o’clock in the evening and six o’clock in the
morning, the law, however, with consent of women workers, allows employers to engage
women worker at night even in those establishments where family members of the women
worker are not employed. Thus, the standards have translated in terms of availability
mostly and in terms of effectiveness partly. The overall translation of labour standards has
been in the range of ‘partly to mostly’.

Rest and Leave

The ILO Conventions touch on rest and leave provisions including rest and leisure, weekly
and public holidays, annual leave, and maternity leave. All workers have the right to enjoy
a period of rest comprising at least twenty-four consecutive hours in every period of seven
days (ILO Convention 14, Article 2). Every worker is entitled after the first year of
employment to an annual leave with pay of at least six working days; employers are
required to increase the duration of the annual leave with pay, with the length of service
under conditions approved by national laws and regulations (ILO Convention 52, Article
2). The ILO Convention 103 provides women workers rights to enjoy at least 12 week
maternity leave.
Bangladesh’s labour law provides rights provision related to rest and leave.
Workers shall not be responsible to work unless they are allowed an interval for rest or
meal of at least half an hour for work up to five hours, and an hour for work over six hours
to eight hours (BLA 2006, Section 101).
In terms of leave provisions, every adult worker employed in a shop or commercial
establishment, or industrial establishment, has the right to enjoy one and a half day’s
holiday in each week, and in factory and establishment one day in a week (Section 103).
Every worker is entitled to ten days in a calendar year as casual leave with the full wages
(Section 115), and eleven days of paid festival leave in a calendar year (Section 118). Each

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worker, who has completed one year of continuous service, is entitled during the
subsequent period of twelve months to leave with wages for a number of days as annual
leave. The annual leave is one day for every eighteen days worked in a year for adult
workers, one day for every fifteen days for adolescent workers employed in a factory
(Section 117). Every worker employed in a factory is also entitled to fourteen days of sick
leave in a calendar year with full wages (Section 117). A female worker is entitled to
maternity leave with pay of sixteen weeks (eight weeks before and eight weeks after
delivery) (Section46).
Indeed, Bangladesh’s labour law in terms of availability of instruments related to
rest and leave is wide in coverage. However, the weekly holiday provision hardly matches
with the ILO standards— twenty-four consecutive hours in every period of seven days.
Numerous provisions of law are also discriminatory. In case of weekly holiday, the law
has made provision of one-day holiday for workers of factories, while workers employed
in shops, commercial, and industrial establishments are entitled to enjoy one and a half-
day holiday. The annual leave provisions make discrimination not only between workers
in factories and industrial establishments, but also with different categories of workers.
Due to wide availability of law provisions, translation of standards may be
categorized as mostly translated into rights, the effectiveness criteria indeed provide
different categorization of such translation. It is from that lens, partly translated, and
overall, the translation of standards to rights is in between partly to mostly, but not fully.
The discriminatory provision on annual leave makes the right to annual leave less
effective. The absence of certain core elements e.g., lacking consent and choices of the
workers, long term perspective on festival bonus, sick leave and maternity leave, makes
those provisions prone to violation. The festival leave has left scope for employers to
engage workers in work during festivals. The issue of consent of workers in engaging
them during festival is absent. Concerning the sick leave, the law lacks specific provisions
on leave and wage in the case of long-term illness. In case of maternity leave, the leave
period is fixed as eight weeks preceding the expected date and eight weeks immediately
following the day of delivery. The fixed division of the period in effect does not allow
women workers to enjoy the full leave period according to their choices of suitable period
of maternity leave. The law also lacks provision of long-term leave in case of abortion and
pre-mature birth and other pregnancy related complexities. Moreover, there is also time
binding, at least six month-long work under the current employer is needed to be entitled
to maternity leave.
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Occupational Safety and Health
The obligations originating in rights legislation form of standards on occupational safety
and health (OSH) provisions are broad-based. The ILO obliges states to establish coherent
national policy on occupational safety, occupational health and the working environment
aiming to prevent accidents and injury to health arising out of, linked with or occurring in
the course of work, by minimizing the causes of hazards inherent in the working
environment (ILO Convention 155, Article 4). To improve the environment of workplace,
ILO convention (Convention 120) has made various provisions on cleanliness, noise,
temperature, ventilation, lighting, ergonomics, pure drinking water and gender segregated
toilet/washroom.
Bangladesh’s labour law on OSH is encompassing, and touched on three areas of
protection: (i) occupational accidents, hazards and diseases; (ii) safety equipments and
facilities; and (iii) workplace environment (Chapter VI and VII). BLA 2006 states that the
machineries which are moving and in motion, should be securely fenced (Section 63), and
screw, belt or key or any revolting shaft, spindle of any machinery driven by power should
be covered (Section 67) to prevent accidents. The floors, stairs, passages and gangways of
the establishment should be of sound construction and properly maintained, and all floors,
ways and stair ways should be clean, wide and clear of all obstruction (Section 72).
Employers are also obliged to inform the inspector about certain specified diseases if
contacted by worker (Section 82). The rights provisions related to safety equipments and
facilities are reflected in the law provisions on fire fighting apparatus and emergency fire
exit, protective kits (gloves, masks, helmets), and safety of buildings and machineries
(Section 62). Each employer is obliged to take measures to protect workers from dangers
and damage due to fire. The workplace environment related rights provisions are reflected
in detailed law provisions on cleanliness, noise, temperature, ventilation, lighting, dust and
fumes, humidity, working space, dustbin and spittoon, waste management, ergonomics,
pure drinking water, and gender segregated toilet (Section 51-59).
Indeed, law provisions in terms of occupational accidents, hazards and diseases,
safety equipment and facilities, and workplace environment reflect fully of those of the
provisions of standards. In terms of effectiveness, number of provisions relating to role of
inspection by appropriate authority in ensuring the safety equipment and facilities
(Section83-85), show that the provisions have fully translated too. One point of such
categorization is the issue of empowerment of workers through these right provisions. The
current law has provided workers with the right to be informed by the employers about
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buildings and machines which are dangerous /risky. If the employers do not take any
measure within specified timeframe, and thereafter, accidents occur, the workers will get
compensation at twice the normal rate of the compensation (Section 86). Also, the current
law has made mock fire-fighting drill mandatory for the industries where fifty or more
workers are employed (Section 62). The current law has also made safety record book
compulsory for employers employing more than twenty five workers (Section 90). It
provides provision to constitute a national council for industrial health and safety to ensure
occupational health and safety of the workers at their workplaces (Section 323).

Welfare Facilities
International instruments provide guidelines to rights to welfare facilities for the wellbeing
of the employees at workplace. Two of the major general welfare facilities in the areas of
healthcare and skill development are provided by the ILO guidelines. The provisions
include: general practitioner care; specialist care at hospitals for in-patients and out-
patients; essential pharmaceutical supplies; and hospitalization and pre-natal, confinement
and post-natal care either by medical practitioners or by qualified midwives (ILO
Convention 102, Article10). According to this Convention (Article 19), every
establishment, institution or administrative service, or department shall maintain (a) its
own dispensary or first-aid post; or (b) a dispensary or first-aid post jointly with other
establishments, institutions or administrative services, or departments; or (c) one or more
first-aid cupboards, boxes or kits. For workers’ skill development, ILO provides the
provision that each member countries adopt and develop policies and programs of
vocational guidance and vocational training, closely linked with employment to encourage
and enable all persons to develop and use their capabilities for work in their own best
interest and in accordance with their own aspirations (ILO C142). Besides this provision, a
recommendation also made by ILO concerning this issue stating that the human resources
development, education, training and lifelong learning policies should be identified by
states which: (a) facilitate lifelong learning and employability; and (b) stress the
importance of innovation, competitiveness, productivity, growth of the economy, the
creation of decent jobs and the employability of people (ILO Rec.195).
Bangladesh’s labour law has covered numerous provisions. For example, the law
has stated that every employer is required to provide (a) equipped first aid boxes or shelf
(one for every 150 workers), and equipped dispensary with a patient-room, doctor and
nursing staff where 300 or more workers are employed (Section 89); (b) canteen facility
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where more than 100 workers are employed (Section 92); (c) adequate and suitable rest-
rooms for use of workers where fifty or more workers are employed (Section 93); and (d)
children room for the children of under six years of age, wherein forty or more female
workers are working (Section 94).
In terms of availability, the standards provisions, have mostly translated, even
though the issue of skill development and lifelong learning for employability are hardly
spelled out in the current law. The BLA 2006 defined apprentices, and their obligations
including participating in training organized by the employer. The law, however, has set
as one of the functions of the Participation Committee to encourage vocational training,
workers education and family welfare training for inculcating and developing sense of
belongings and workers’ commitment. Overall, the current law of the country in relation to
welfare facilities is broader than the existing provision of labour standards to include
canteen facility, and child care. The effectiveness of these provisions, however, makes a
different categorization—partly translated, and accordingly, overall, the translation of
standards on welfare facilities into right provisions is in the range of partly to mostly.
This categorization is due to two reasons. First, ambiguity and numerical bindings
of some provisions render the law inapplicable to all workers. The law provision related to
dispensary at workplace is subject to number of workers (three hundred or more). It is also
not clear whether workers need to pay to get services from the dispensary. Similarly,
several facilities are subjected to the total number of workers: canteen facility to hundred,
rest room to fifty, gender segregated restroom to twenty five female, and day care facility
to forty female workers. Second, the provisions are exclusionary and discriminatory—not
provide same welfare facilities for all workers. The BLA has included provisions on
accommodation and recreational facilities only for the workers of tea-garden, and specific
provisions on healthcare applicable only to newspaper industry workers.
To sum up, key standards provisions relating to working hour, rest and leave,
occupational health and safety, and welfare facility have mostly translated into rights
provisions (broad coverage with strong protection but low recourse). In terms of
availability of provisions, all the above provisions have translated in the range of ‘mostly
to fully’. Bangladesh has not ratified the relevant ILO convention (Convention120).
Nevertheless, the rights are detailed, and capture the spirits of standards promoted. In
terms of effectiveness, the translation of standards is not that straightforward, many of the
provisions relating to the above are prone to ineffectiveness. While three standards
provisions—working hour, rest and leave, and welfare facility—have translated partly, in
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view of the effectiveness, the standards on occupational health and safety have translated
fully due to its mandatory provisions.

C. Rights through Work

The key provisions of rights through work relate to promoting an adequate standard of
living by ensuring adequate provisions and non-discrimination in wages and benefits as
well as in equal access to and outcome of employment. Accordingly, the standards and
rights nexus is at play in wage and benefits, social security instruments, and labour
relations and social dialogue.

Wage and Work related Benefits

The ILO Conventions have made provisions to ensure fair wage and benefits for the
working people. According to ILO Convention 131, states are required to establish or
maintain a system of minimum wages which covers all groups of wage earners and is to be
fixed and adjusted from time to time (Article4). The ILO delineates clear guidelines for
determining the level of minimum wage as (a) needs of workers and their families, taking
into account the general level of wages in the country, the cost of living, social security
benefits, and the relative living standards of other social groups; and (b) economic factors,
including the requirements of economic development, levels of productivity and the
desirability of attaining and maintaining a high level of employment.
Bangladesh’s labour law defines wages to include other benefits, and elaborates
procedures of wage fixation (Chap. XI). According to BLA 2006, government is required
to establish a Minimum Wage Board to determine and declare rates of wages (including
the minimum) for workers. Few specific provisions are important from the perspective of
the effectiveness, however. First, the wage determination does not require considering
family size of the workers, and also no mention is made how the balance between
efficiency (profit) and equity (workers’ protection) would be made while considering the
wage structure. This is important in view of the diverging claims of actual implementation
of labour laws in Bangladesh from the part of the employers and workers. The wage
review span is fixed in the law as after every five years—which fails to capture monthly
changes in the cost of living for workers. Wage fixation does not cover the process of
automatic adjustment to inflation which is high in the country, and much higher for food
items the working poor consume. A number of issues germane to the wage fixation make

13
the function of the board ineffective due to scope of political/government influence. First,
the tenure for the members of wage board is not fixed. Second, representative selection
process for the board members (workers’ and employers’ representatives) is absent. Third,
the criteria for selection (both process and eligibility) of the Independent Member to the
wage board are not specified.
The law has made obligatory for employers to provide all remuneration on a
regular and timely manner. Wage payment should be made within the expiry of seven
working days after the last day of wage period (Section 123). The wages payable to worker
should be paid within seven working days from the day of termination (by way of
retrenchment, discharge, removal, dismissal or otherwise) (Section122, and123). It also has
elaborated provisions on wage deduction—no deduction shall be made from the wages of
workers except few permissible cases and specified fines (Section 25). Nevertheless, there
remains wide scope of employers’ discretion on the above in effect prone to possible
violation. The source from which the wage deduction is permissible is not clearly
mentioned. Also, the law does not make it clear whether wage would be deducted for
unauthorized leave if casual leaves remain un-enjoyed. As regards overtime rate, the law
states that workers are entitled to allowance at the rate of twice the ordinary rate of basic
wage and dearness allowance and ad-hoc or interim pay (Section108). However, the
calculation of overtime is difficult in some cases especially for the workers who do not
work on either full or part time basis but on the basis of production (piece) or from home.
The procedures and fundamentals for fixation of minimum wage have no reference to
piece rate or home based workers. In addition, the lacking provisions related to festival
bonuses, and other allowances e.g., healthcare, transportation, recreation left many of the
financial benefits to the discretion of employers.
With regards to other benefits to workers, an important provision is the right of the
workers in company’s profit. The law has established detailed provisions on participation
fund and welfare fund for workers, in effect to share company’s profits (Section 232.1).
The law obliges that every company to constitute a Workers’ Participation Fund and a
Workers’ Welfare Fund for its workers, and should pay five percent of its net profit yearly
in proportion of 80:20 to such funds (Section 234). However the profit share is applicable
for the company if it has (a) one hundred workers; (b) BDT ten million as paid up capital;
and (c) BDT twenty million of value of the permanent assets. But, these are prone to
violation in view of the numerical bindings on number of workers, and paid-up capital and
value of permanent assets of employers.
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 The rights provisions align with the international standards. In terms of contents
too, it not only covers procedures and factors of wage fixation, but also go beyond to
establish plain provisions on regularity of payments, wage deduction, overtime rate, and
workers’ participation in company’s profits applicable to workers. However, these
provisions are difficult to implement in view of their inherent shortcomings and due to
absence of concrete modalities for implementation. The standards provisions as regards
wage and work related benefits while have fully translated into rights in terms of
availability, but hardly have translated in terms of effectiveness of those provisions. Thus,
overall, the extent of translation of standards provisions to related rights provisions is in a
questionable magnitude—ranging from ‘hardly to fully’.

Social Security Instruments

Each Member of ILO is required to set up or maintain a scheme of compulsory old-age
insurance/pension, and sickness insurance. The insured person is entitled to an old-age
pension at an age which shall be determined by national laws or regulations but not
exceeding age sixty-five (ILO Convention 35). A person incapable of work by reason of
the abnormal state of bodily or mental health shall be entitled to a cash benefit for at least
the first twenty six weeks of incapacity (ILO Convention Article3).
ILO Conventions concerning compensation lay down detailed provisions on in
case of industrial accident-led personal injury (Convention 17), and incapacitation by
occupational diseases (ILO Convention 18). The ILO Convention 103 states that a woman
is entitled to receive cash and medical benefits during maternity leave (Article 4.1 and
4.3).
Bangladesh’s labour law has matching provisions in the areas of insurance,
compensation, and maternity benefits, but no specific provisions on pension. Instead, two
other provisions intending to provide social security benefits to workers are provident
fund, and gratuity. Overall, the rights provisions enshrined in the BLA 2006 reflect partly
in terms of availability of the standards provisions. This categorization is due to
advancement in comparison with previous laws of the country. First, benefit to family of
deceased worker, the present law has made a new provision to provide some financial
support to the family of a deceased worker (Section 155). Second, increase in
compensation amount, the law has increased the amount of compensation to be given to
the workers for injury, disability and death due to workplace related accidents (Section
151). Third, increased coverage of provident fund, the law has extended the coverage of

15
provident fund from only tea-garden and newspaper industry workers to all other private
sector workers (Section 264). Fourth, mandatory provision, the current law has made the
group insurance mandatory (Section 99).
Nonetheless, inherent weaknesses of these laws and lacking mandatory guidelines
on many of these provisions make these ineffective. The provision of gratuity is optional
under the provision of law. The provision of provident fund is subject to numerical
bindings—at least three fourth of the total workers of any factory/establishment require to
submit an application to their employer requesting to form provident fund (Section 264).
The introduction of group insurance too is dependent on the number of workers—may be
formed where minimum 200 permanent workers employed. These numerical bindings
while exclude workers in establishments of smaller size, it also keep open the scope for
violation through manipulation of numbers and employment contracts. The social security
provisions have also been subjected to time bindings as preconditions to receive benefits.
In case of maternity benefit, at least six-month long continuous work is needed to receive
maternity benefit from the employer, and three-year long continuous service is needed to
get the benefit to family of deceased worker (Section 19). There is also lack of
implementation modalities. The law does not include provisions of medical care as part of
the maternity protection and benefit, similar to ILO standards. No specific provisions are
there on treatment and rehabilitation, and alternative skill development for workers.
Furthermore, the rights provisions on compensation are narrow, as well as discriminatory
in terms of age. An adult worker gets BDT 125, 000 as compensation for complete
permanent impairment whereas a child/adolescent/young worker gets only BDT 10,000 on
the same ground. Hence, in terms of effectiveness, the standards provisions related to
social security have hardly translated giving an overall categorization of translation in the
range of in between ‘hardly to partly’.

Labour Relations and Social Dialogue

The ILO conventions have obliged states in relation to labour relations and social
dialogue. One of the most important of such standards is the freedom of association (FoA).
The international standards on FoA are broad-based covering features like right to form
and join association, freedom to elect union representation, protection against
victimization and discrimination when joining and forming union, and protection against
interference.

16
 The ILO Convention (Convention 87) has laid down that workers without
distinction whatsoever have the right to establish and join organizations of their own
choosing without previous authorizations, and each member countries obliged to
undertake all necessary and appropriate measures for ensuring free exercise of workers
right to organize (Article2 and 11). Workers rights to affiliate with federations and
alliances are also proclaimed (ILO Convention 87). The rights to draw up union
constitutions and rules, elect representatives in full freedom, and organize administration
and activities and formulate programs are part of the ILO Convention 87. Safeguards
against victimization and discrimination in joining and forming union are afforded through
the ILO Convention 98. It declares that workers have the right to enjoy adequate
protection against acts of anti union discrimination in respect of their employment, and the
protections bar employers to make employment and/or the dismissal of or otherwise
prejudice a worker by reason of union membership and participation in union activities
outside working hours (Article 1). It too provides protection to workers and to both
workers' and employers' organizations against any acts of interference by public
authorities, or by workers and employers or by their agents (Article 2).
The other important standard is CB—recognized as one of the basic rights of the
workers by different international instruments. The ILO has obliged member countries to
take appropriate measures “to encourage and promote the full development and utilization
of machinery for voluntary negotiation between employers or employers’ organizations
and workers' organizations, with a view to the regulation of terms and conditions of
employment by means of collective agreements” (Convention 98).
Bangladesh’s labour law has provided the right of every worker to form and join
trade union by their own choice. Every worker employed in any establishment is entitled
to form and join trade union, by their own choice (Section 176). The trade unions of
workers have the right to form and join in a federation of their trade unions and such
unions and federations are permitted to affiliate with any international organization and
confederation of trade unions (Section 176 C). The trade unions have the right to draw up
their own constitution and rules, to elect their representatives, and organize their
administration and activities and formulate their programs (Section 176 d). It makes
specific bindings on employer or trade union of employers, and on the person acting on
their behalf for protection against victimization and discrimination, but does not provide
any specific provisions as regards protection against interference similar to those of the
international standards.
17
 On the whole, labour standards have fully translated in terms of availability of the
provisions. The standards on FoA are well elaborated and reflect the international
standards. The categorization of full translation of standards in terms of availability is also
due to advancement in the law in comparison with those of the previous laws. The
advancement relates to: (a) protection for workers during trade union formation—barred
employers to terminate workers while they are in the process of establishing trade union at
their workplaces; (b) extended coverage—protection to person during trade union
formation and selection of officials has been extended to the group of establishments; and
(c) strict restriction of transfer of trade union officials—the provision of not transferring
the president and secretary of trade union from one place to another without their consent
has been extended and made specific.
The effectiveness criteria of the translation, however, amply show that the
standards have hardly translated. This is due to a number of reasons. First, there is a
contradiction with international norms. To form a trade union, there is a pre-requisite of 30
percent of the total number of workers employed in any establishment or group of
establishments which does not correspond to norms on all workers’ rights to form and join
trade union, especially with the ILO convention 87 to which Bangladesh is a signatory.
This numerical binding excludes large majority of workers since it causes obstacles to
their freedom to form and join unions. Second, the FoA and CB rights are exclusionary as
well as discriminatory. The requirement of mandatory support of 30 percent workers for
trade union applies to workers, but similar condition is not applicable to organizations of
the employers. Third, obstacles to representation make the rights provisions ineffective. A
person is not entitled to be elected as a member or an officer of a trade union if the person
is not employed or engaged in that establishment in which trade union is formed (Section
180.1b). The provision bars workers in choosing their own representatives in full freedom.
Furthermore, the differential law regime in Bangladesh’s export processing zones (EPZs)
posing significant restrictions and delays in relation to the right to organize. The EPZ
Workers Association and Industrial Relations Act (EWAIRA) (2004) provided for the
formation of trade unions in EPZs but with several phases, and complicated and
cumbersome procedures of implementation. The EPZ workers are outside the purview of
the BLA 2006, and the EWAIRA does not conform to core ILO conventions particularly
on the FoA and CB. The law allows employers in the EPZs to continue to deny workers
rights’ to FoA and CB.
18
 On the right to CB, BLA provides a number of provisions including on rights to
bargaining, scope and procedures of bargaining, procedures of settling industrial disputes,
right to strike, workers’ protection during lay-off, and tripartite consultation. A trade union
is allowed to work as a collective bargaining agent (CBA) in any establishment (Section
202). The current law has extended the possibilities of including non-CBA unions in
participation committee which can be formed by equal number of representatives of
employers and workers (Hossain, Ahmed and Akter 2010). Despite this advancement,
there is pre-condition for a trade union to act as CBA—if more than one trade union exists
and election is not held, then a trade union will act as CBA if it enlists membership of at
least one-third of the total workers of the institution. Calling a strike is also dependent on
the support of pre-requisite number of members for the CBA—support of at least three-
fourth members of the CBA is necessary.
The BLA has provided elaborated procedures to settle industrial disputes by the
employer or CBA through processes of negotiation, conciliation and arbitration (Section
210). 1 If industrial disputes are raised, at first, the CBA shall communicate with other
party in writing. The recipient party shall take initiative to arrange a meeting for
negotiation within fifteen days. If the negotiation fails, it shall forward to the conciliator. If
the dispute is settled through conciliation within 30 days, the conciliator shall report it to
the government. If the conciliation turns into failure, the conciliator refers the dispute to an
arbitrator. Arbitrator shall present an award within thirty days or period agreed by both
parties after the dispute is received. The CBA may provide a notice of strike or lock-out.
The specific time-limit for every stage of dispute settlement is a positive aspect of the law
in comparison with that of the previous laws (Hossain, Ahmed and Akter 2010).
However, within the process, the right to strike has been weakened due to the necessity of
the pre-requisite support for action. No CBA can serve any notice of strike or lock-out
unless three-fourths of its members support it (Section 211.1). Furthermore, the law has
imposed a three years ban on strike in newly established industries, and industries
established or supported by foreigners. The ban on strike in many of the industries falling
within the above category is not only contradictory with the workers’ right to strike but
also has made rights provision ineffective.
The BLA provides protection to workers during lay-offs but not during lock-outs.
Protection during the lay-off is also subject to time bindings and in effect exclusionary for
many of the workers. Entitlement to such protection requires enlistment of worker in
master-role, and at least one year continuous service under the employer. Hence, on CB,
19
rights provisions in terms of availability fully reflect those of the standards prevailed in
three standards forms, but on effectiveness, standards have hardly translated to rights
provisions applicable to workers. Overall, the labour relation and social dialogue
standards translation is in the questionable range varying between ‘hardly to fully’.
In summing up, the key provisions of right through work relating to wage and
benefits, social security instruments, and labour relations and social dialogue provide a
much diverged categorization of translation. While the availability lens on the above
indicators show that the standards provisions almost fully translated to rights provisions
for Bangladesh’s workers, the only exception being the provisions of social security which
has partly translated. The effectiveness criteria made it clear that all three indicators have
hardly translated. The overall translation of the labour relations and social dialogue can
only be categorized as partly (broad coverage with limited protection with low recourse).
This indeed contrasts much with the expected reflection of the standards delineated in
three forms of labour standards in action for workers.

4. CONCLUSION
The overall reflection of the law provisions juxtaposing with those of the standards has
given the scope to see whether there is any translation of standards to rights, and also to
categorize translation based on availability and effectiveness of the provisions. The
standard provisions have translated into three different forms of rights—right to, right at,
and right through—for workers, but not at a same level.
The standard provisions in relation to right at work (employment contract,
elimination of child labour and protection of adolescent, protection against forced and
compulsory labour, and protection against discrimination at workplace) have translated
partly in terms of both availability and effectiveness. The key standards provisions relating
to rights at work (working hour, rest and leave, OHS, and welfare facility) have mostly
translated into rights provisions in terms of same availability and effectiveness criteria.
The transformative action for the key provisions of rights through work analyzed in
relation to wage and benefits, social security instruments, and labour relations and social
dialogue, contrasts much with the expected reflection of the standards provisions
delineated in three forms of labour standards for workers. The availability of standards
provisions on the above standard provisions almost fully translated to rights provisions,
the effectiveness lens however shows that all three indicators have hardly translated. Thus,
an overall categorization of broad scope with limited protection and low recourse is made
20
in terms of right through work. The differential outcome in terms of availability and
effectiveness is most wide for standards translation into rights through work. It implies
that the trade-off between the conflicting interests of workers and employers are much
poorly balanced in cases of standards of the rights through work.
The transformative action for each of the rights forms and their specific indicators
are not so straightforward, there are indeed exceptions in terms of numerous indicators.
The following are three of those.
First, two indicators, one each from right to work (protection from forced and
compulsory labour), and right at work (occupational safety and health) have no difference
of translation in terms of availability and effectiveness, both translated fully. These are the
two indicators those performed best in terms of translation in comparison with other
indicators. The standard on protection from forced and compulsory labour is one of the
most elevated standards in all there forms. The other, occupational safety and health have
been low profiled in all the three forms. Moreover, Bangladesh has ratified relevant ILO
convention as regards the first, but not any relevant one as regards the second.
Second, two of the indicators, one each from right to work (employment contract),
and right through work (social security) have shown minor difference in between
availability and effectiveness. This is because, the standards provisions on employment
contract, and social security are broad based lacking specific guidelines. The rights
legislation form of standards also does not provide very specific guidelines on the
modalities of standards to be implemented at the national level.
Third, there are two indicators, both from right through work (wage and work
related benefits, and labour relations and social dialogue) which show large variation in
terms of availability and effectiveness of standards translation. There is a difference
between the two standards though. The standard related to wage and work related benefits
are hardly articulated in any of the three standards forms. In contrast, the standards related
to labour relations and social dialogue is quite elaborated in all the three forms of
standards, and these are also the part of ILO’s core labour standards.
Overall, the transformative action amply shows that in between three forms of
rights, two of the rights—rights to work; and rights at work— forms translated more than
the rights through work. This implies that not all forms of rights are prioritized the same
way in national settings. Some standards within particular forms of rights are promoted
and made effective, while others are not promoted at the same level in terms of availability
and effectiveness. While some forms and some of its specific contents of standards get
21
promoted more than the others, certainly there are forms of standards which even
promoted to a higher level but have been rendered ineffective due to its inherent
shortcomings, exclusionary and exploitative nature, lacking mandatory mechanisms,
existing cost burden to workers, lengthy procedures, and lacking remedial instruments, all
of which could either due to acts of omission or acts of commission by the state and non-
state actors, but certainly prove to fact that these are the areas where the conflicting
interests of workers and employers are poorly balanced.
This contrasts to the expected transformative action—the prioritization and the
emphasis accordingly upon certain forms of standards, do not get translated in the same
fashion. What standards would be promoted and what would not at local level as the
analysis in this article shows hardly is a function of what is promoted through international
labour standards, rather depends upon how the trade-off between the conflicting interests
of workers and employers are played, and balance in between are achieved.

22
References

Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 (BLA 2006), Government of Bangladesh

Bangladesh Constitution, 1972, Government of Bangladesh
http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/pdf_part.php?id=367
EPZ Workers' Association and Industrial Relations Act (EWAIRA) 2004, Government of
Bangladesh
EPZ Workers' Association and Industrial Relations Act (EWAIRA) 2010, Government of
Bangladesh
Government of Bangladesh (GoB), 2009, Bangladesh Economic Review 2009, Ministry of
Finance, Government of Bangladesh.
Government of Bangladesh (GoB), 2012, Bangladesh Economic Review 2012, Ministry of
Finance, Government of Bangladesh.
Hossain, J, Ahmed, M & Akter, A 2010, Decent work and Bangladesh labour law: Provisions,
status and future directions, Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, Dhaka.
International Labour Organization Conventions (ILO Conventions),
http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp1.htm

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