Written by The Banking Post
The IndustriaLL Bangladesh Council (IBC) has called for changes to the government’s proposed amendments on trade union registration, which recommend workers’ representation ranging from 10 to 300 members based on factory size.
At a press conference held at the National Press Club on Monday, IBC’s former secretary general Salauddin Swapan said the proposed rules would make union registration “more complex” instead of facilitating workers’ rights.
He proposed that factories with 20 to 50 workers should be allowed to form a union with 10 members, while larger factories should have proportional representation—
- 20 members for factories with 51–200 workers,
- 30 for 201–400,
- 40 for 401–500,
- 50 for 501–1000, and
- 100 members for 1001–3000 workers.
IBC also demanded six months of maternity leave for all establishments, a 30-day notice period for worker resignation, and one month’s wage for each completed year of service as part of the labour law reforms.
Regarding Collective Bargaining Agents (CBA), Swapan said that in workplaces with a single union, the existing CBA should remain in effect, while in factories with multiple unions, the CBA should be the one winning the highest number of votes in elections.
The call comes after a Tripartite Consultative Committee (TCC) meeting on September 28, chaired by Labour and Employment Adviser M Sakhawat Hussain, where the revised union registration requirements were discussed among representatives from the government, employers, and workers.
According to meeting sources, the proposed rule would allow:
- 50 workers to form a union in factories with 50–500 employees,
- 100 workers in factories with 501–1000,
- 300 workers in factories with 1001–3000, and
- 400 workers in factories with over 3000 employees.
The registration requirement for factories with fewer than 50 workers remains undecided.
Earlier, on August 26, the TCC decided that a trade union could be registered with the signatures of 20 workers and that a maximum of five unions could operate in a single factory.
