Sign ILO conventions to safeguard workers’ rights: Experts to govt

Local and international experts on Thursday urged Bangladesh government to sign ILO convention-189 and ILO convention-190 soon to ensure the safety of domestic and expat workers at workplace.

They made the call at a workshop titled, “The findings of the ILO-PRS/STRIDE pilot project: promoting decent work and women’s rights in the backdrop of Covid-19” at a hotel in Dhaka. Workers Resource Centre (WRC) organised the event with the support of International Labour Organisation (ILO) &ILO/Japan Multi-bilateral Programme.

The two conventions ILO-189 and ILO-190 were approved at the 100th and 108th sessions of the ILO, held in Geneva, respectively, in 2011 and 2019 in a bid to safeguard the rights of domestic and expat workers. But Bangladesh has yet to sign the conventions.

Convention-189 was approved with the aim of securing the safety of domestic workers, while convention-190 was to put an end to violence and harassment in the workplace.

Reading out the keynote paper, WRC Manager Khandoker Abdus Salam said they started to train up 1160 domestic and construction workers from July to December this year in Dhaka and Gazipur. Of them, 444 are women and 306 are men.

 “Domestic and construction workers are most neglected in informal sector of our country. The domestic workers should be declared as labours. In this context, we have selected them to train about labour rights.” he also said.

Some 51.7 million people are employed in the informal sector, while females (91.8 per cent) are more prone and vulnerable comparing males (82.1 per cent), according to the BBS Statistical Yearbook Bangladesh 2019.

The BBS data further states that 13.1 million urban workers (77.3 per cent) are informal sector workers, whereas 38.6 million rural workers (88.1 per cent) are informally employed.

Speaking there, Neeran Ramjuthan, programme manager for labour administration and working conditions at ILO Bangladesh, said that in view of the rapid growth in diverse forms of work arrangements – including temporary, part-time, and on-call work, multiparty employment relationships, dependent self-employment, and, most recently, platform work performed under different work and employment relationships – the call of urgency will seek steps to ensure the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining for all workers.

“The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, adopted in 1998 and amended in 2022, declares that all member states, even if they have not ratified ILO Fundamental Conventions, have an obligation to respect, promote, and realise the principles concerning the fundamental rights that are the subject of ten ILO Conventions,” he added.