Country Director of International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Bangladesh, Tuomo Poutiainen on Sunday urged the government to implement the labour reform roadmap and the national action plan to address the post-graduation challenges and to resolve the complaint lodged against the country for its non-observance of three core labour conventions.
At a national level dialogue on decent work held at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital, Poutiainen said that Bangladesh would reach a major milestone in its development journey as it would graduate from the least developed country status in 2026.
While this is a testament to Bangladesh progress, it also presents new challenges, the potential loss of trade privileges and stricter compliance requirements in the global market competitiveness, the ILO country director also said.
The dialogue "Promoting decent work agenda to advance social justice" was jointly organized by the Foreign Ministry, Labour Ministry and ILO.
Workers’ organizations from Italy, Japan, South Africa, Pakistan and Brazil made a complaint under Article 26 to the International Labour Conference in 2019 on the non-observance of convention 81 on labour inspection, 87 on freedom of association and protection of the right to organize and convention 98 on right to organize and collective bargaining by the government of Bangladesh.
State Minister for Labour Md Nazrul Islam Chowdhury said that Bangladesh promised to uphold labour rights and social justice to the ILO.
He said that ensuring evidence-based national wage policy and workplace safety was crucial to the growth of the economy of Bangladesh in a sustainable way.
In a panel discussion on global accelerators for jobs, Bangladesh Employers Federation president Ardashir Kabir said hundreds of economic zones are coming up, which would create millions of jobs, but there are some constraints.
"We must settle contracts with foreign investors within three to six months, it should not take 17 years," he said.
Regarding skill development, Ardashir said that reskilling and up-skilling were needed for thousands of boys and girls who are completing graduation in political science, history and sociology every year.
"We should turn informal workers into formal ones to improve their living conditions and working conditions," said Mesbah Uddin Ahmed, chairperson of the National Coordination Committee for Workers Education.