May 1st is International Workers Day, or Workers Rights Day. The day commemorates the long struggle to establish the rights of working people. This day is said to be the day to end injustice towards workers by establishing good relations between workers and employers. For the working people of the world, this day is very significant, as well as full of emotion and motivation. About one and a half hundred years ago, the victory of the working people began through the united struggle and sacrifice of the workers for their rights. Every working man in all parts of the world is manifested in that victory streak. Because through this day, the working people got the initial recognition of their work. May 1st is not the product of a one-day movement, but a long period of struggle for the realization of demands has achieved some achievement and recognition on this day. Therefore, “International Workers Day” is a day to raise the status of workers and establish their rights.
Bangladesh is a developing country in South Asia and a signatory to the principles formulated by the International Labor Organization (ILO). Workers’ rights were recognized with the establishment of the ILO as an important subsidiary organization of the United Nations. The ILO has so far formulated 183 conventions to establish the fundamental rights of workers. Bangladesh has ratified 33 conventions, including eight core conventions. Besides, according to the existing labor laws of the country, the government is responsible for ensuring the rights of the workers. According to the latest survey of the Bangladesh Labor Force, the total number of workers in the country is about 5 crore. One-fourth of these are female workers. But how much rights the workers of our country are getting and how much welfare has been achieved today has become a difficult question. In reality, the rights of the working people of Bangladesh are not in the book! The daily-wage laborers of this country have always been deprived and exploited. Every year, Labor Day comes and goes. But the fate of the country’s workers should not open again.
Bangladesh is not far behind in the inspiration of Labor Day. After the independence of the country from the rule of Pakistan in 1971, Labor Day was celebrated in Bangladesh with great enthusiasm in 1972. In that year, the first of May was declared a public holiday in the newly independent country. Since then, May 1st has remained a public holiday. Labor organizations celebrate this day through various programs. Various organizations, including the government party and opposition parties of the state, also observe the day with due importance. On this day, the news of meetings, seminars, and symposiums on behalf of the workers was spread in all the media and newspapers in the country.
Every year, through the celebration of Labor Day, workers remember the bloody history of their rights and dream of getting their rights. But even today, the dream of the workers in Bangladesh has not been realized. Looking at the workers in Bangladesh, we still see how the owner class is exploiting them. As a result of the exploitation of the owning class, the workers have to die like helpless ones. Just 10 years ago, on April 24, 2013, in the history of Bangladesh, the tragic deaths of more than 1200 innocent workers due to the collapse of the monumental building on Rana Plaza in Savare saddened the entire nation. Even though it has been ten years since the incident, the missing 105 workers in the Rana Plaza tragedy have not been found, and many have not even received compensation. In November 2012, a fire broke out at the garment factory of Tazreen Fashions Limited in Ashulia, killing 111 workers. In 2010, many workers lost their lives in three garment accidents, including Hamim Garments. In this way, various types of accidents happen in garment factories. Many women, men, and children died in these accidents. Workers who die in accidents have their families’ livelihoods cut off. They see darkness in their eyes.
In today’s commodity market, workers are not getting their fair wages. Where the labor movement was for an 8-hour working day, the garments in Bangladesh are still working 12 hours instead of 8 hours. The only method of payment is by name. Anarchy is being observed in most of the garments in Bangladesh constantly for the sake of salary increases or due salary collection. Garment workers are protesting and blocking the road to get their demands. According to daily newspaper reports, this year’s Eid-ul-Fitr workers from 4933 large and medium factories in the country did not receive their March salary and Eid bonus. These factories include garment, steel, heavy iron, broken industries, cement, tobacco, and soap factories. Industrial police sources said that out of 1631 factories belonging to BGMEA, workers in 141 factories did not get a salary or bonus on Eid. Besides, 888 factories, including 95 of BKMEA, 24 of BTMA, and 1 of Bepjar, have not been given salary and Eid bonuses for the month of March. Apart from this, 3 thousand 69 out of 6 thousand 399 factories in other sectors have not received salaries or bonuses. Lakhs of workers working in these institutions have spent Eid in great difficulty. Many factory workers could not go home to the village for the Eid holidays. In this way, the owners are often cheating the workers.
Workers are not safe at work. They are working on their stomachs at the risk of death. In most cases, the owner wants to continue the production process by paying arrears of wages to the workers. There was almost a conflict between the owners and the workers. A large proportion of workers in our country are women. These women work more in various factories, especially in the garment industry. The contribution of women workers to the development of the garment industry in this country is very high. But while the national economy of the country is prospering due to the contribution of women workers, the ongoing lives of those women workers are very miserable.
After garment workers, construction workers workplaces are more dangerous. Even those whose blood and sweat are involved in these risky professions often do not get their fair dues. Those who do not understand the value of labor know how hard it is to survive in the struggle of life. Domestic workers in Bangladesh are also subjected to various oppressions at work. There are frequent cases of domestic workers being burned with hot irons and other forms of torture. Not only that, the domestic workers are subjected to brutal torture as well as murder and rape.
Most of the marginalized people in our country earn their livelihoods through agricultural work and the production of agricultural products, but due to some dishonest traders, black markets, and syndicates, farmers are often deprived of the fair price of agricultural products. Along with this, the increase in prices of agricultural inputs, including fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides, has come as a blow to farmers. In order to provide public services, almost 50 lakh workers in the transport sector constantly put their lives in danger, but the government has not created any policies to set their wages. Millions of rickshaw pullers are constantly sweating their lives. To improve the quality of life of this class of workers, rationing, medical services, and children’s education rights are still not guaranteed.
The Bangladesh Constitution prohibits child labor. Children are unable to grow physically and mentally due to hazardous work. They are deprived of various social facilities, including education. These children step into the world of crime due to a lack of love and affection.
Bangladesh Labor Act 2006, Article 23-25 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and ILO Conventions 87 and 98 have said about giving free opportunity to workers to form trade unions, but workers have to face various types of harassment in forming trade unions. Workers are not getting the right to a free trade union. Especially the workers working in institutional industries, including the garment industry, are being denied the right to form trade unions due to various machinations of the owners.
Through the bloody history of establishing labor rights, workers have gained some of their rights, but they have not fully gained their rights in all aspects. Even though Labor Day is celebrated every year, workers are still neglected. Even today, they could not secure their desired wages. The rule of 8 hours of work may have been established in the workplace, but the oppression of workers has not stopped, and the real dignity and value of labor have not been established. The rights for which the workers poured their blood on the streets of Chicago have not yet been achieved in reality. Even today, workers are not getting better working conditions, a livable wage structure, or assurance of a normal and desirable life. Misbehavior of the owner, payment of low labor prices, improper working environment, and various discriminations are the causes of the misery and inhumane lives of the workers.
In fact, we do not even want to understand the status of labor or workers. All that is necessary for the life of a human being, i.e., food, clothing, shelter, and medical care, is what a laborer deserves. And this is the true dignity of the worker. In the twenty-first century, how much dignity or rights are workers enjoying? We must think about the interests of the working class in the current political-economic context. Because workers are the wealth of this country. It is because of them that the wheels of the country’s economy are running. There is no opportunity to overlook them. They have to ensure the safety of work and life. There is no substitute for realizing the importance and significance of Labor Day. But the reality is that even though we talk about the fair rights of working people, we are not at all sincere in improving their living standards.
Therefore, if we want to establish the dignity and rights of workers in the real sense of not limiting Labor Day to formalities, all responsible citizens, including working people, should come forward with strong conviction in implementing the following aspects and demands to improve the quality of life of workers and play an effective role in realizing the demands through united movement and struggle. have to do To shape the labor policy of the country on the basis of justice and fairness, to give the workers a share of the profits in industrial and commercial establishments, to determine and immediately implement a national minimum wage structure, to determine a living wage for garment workers, and to establish labor courts in labor-intensive areas for the purpose of speeding up justice for workers. To ensure housing, rationing, medical, and free education for working people; to ensure a safe and healthy working environment in factories; to ensure adequate compensation to workers injured and killed at work; and to provide vocational and moral training to workers, women Providing equal pay for men and women, providing maternity leave and allowances for women workers in factories, setting up nurseries for children, stopping child labor, ensuring the right to free trade unions in all occupations by fully implementing ILO Conventions 87 and 98, ensuring the benefits of labor laws to workers of all professions, providing low-cost fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides to farmers, taking effective steps to ensure the fair price of crops produced by farmers, taking steps to stop extortion in the transport sector, stopping police harassment, and issuing employment letters to workers and government Provision of initiative training; stop harassment of rickshaw drivers; arrange separate lanes for rickshaw movement in divisional towns; take appropriate action by the authorities to maintain the tolerant attitude of the owner towards the workers; pay attention to the dignity of the workers and work in light of their physical and mental condition; and pay the wages of the workers on time. To take the necessary action with the concerned authorities.
The reality is that none of the capitalist and socialist state philosophies of the modern world have been able to provide the minimum solution for the real rights and dignity of the workers. Although they talk about workers’ rights, in reality, they have become the owners of enormous wealth, including doing politics by capitalizing on workers. As a result, the workers are still being crushed. Basically, if the Islamic labor policy is in place and the state power is in the hands of honest and just people, then they will be able to play a proper role in securing and protecting the rights of the workers. Moreover, it will not be possible to realize the real rights and dignity of the working class. If the Islamic labor policy is established, effective steps will be taken to establish the rights of the working people by shaping the country’s labor policy on the basis of justice and fairness. Wages will be determined according to the need for human survival. Workers are guaranteed the same life as the master’s own relatives. Therefore, it is necessary to make efforts to bring state power into the hands of honest and just people in order to introduce and implement the Islamic labor policy among the conscious people of the country, including the labor society. Let us all take the necessary steps from our respective positions to achieve the true liberation of the working people. We play a united role in the struggle for the rights of oppressed and deprived working people.
Author: General Secretary, Bangladesh Sramik Kalyan Federation.
