Labour rights or workers’ rights are a set of rights that have acquired legal ramifications because of their clear association with human rights as understood in international law.
They relate to relations between workers and their employers with regard to negotiating workers’ pay, benefits, safe working conditions, and the right to create unions.
This assumes importance because it enables workers to take advantage of collective bargaining and subsequent industrial action. Labour rights from that point of view are expected to facilitate the process whereby workers have a democratic voice in decision and policy making. This is expected to help workers to attain the dignity that they deserve.
Evolution of labour rights
The modern concept of labour rights dates back to the 19th century after the creation of labour unions following the gradual growth of industrialisation.
Karl Marx is remembered as one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for workers’ rights. His philosophy and economic theory focused on labour issues and advocated a form of socialism where society is ruled by the workers. Subsequently, more moderate social democrats supported workers’ interests as well.
More recent workers rights advocacy activists have focused on the particular role, exploitation, and needs of women workers, and of increasingly mobile global flows of casual, service, or guest workers.
These dynamics eventually led to the formation of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 1919 as part of the League of Nations, aimed at protecting workers’ rights. The ILO was later incorporated into the United Nations which then took the lead to back workers rights by incorporating several into two Articles of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
In principle, emphasis was given to the following rights common to all -- (a) the right to work and to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work, and to protection against unemployment, (b) the right to equal pay for equal work, (c) the right to just remuneration worthy of human dignity, (d) the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of one’s interests and (e) the right to rest and leisure including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
International law
The rights described above are generally held as core labour standards and are widely recognised to be universally applicable, regardless of whether the relevant conventions have been ratified, the level of development of a country, or cultural values.
These standards are composed of qualitative, not quantitative standards and don’t establish a particular level of working conditions, wages, or health and safety standards. They are not intended to undermine the comparative advantage that developing countries may hold.
Core labour standards are consequently important human rights and are recognised as such through other widely ratified international human rights instruments including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CROC), the most widely ratified human rights treaty with 193 parties, and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) with 160 parties.
Very few ILO member countries have ratified all of these conventions due to domestic constraints. Yet, as these rights are also recognised in the UDHR, and form a part of customary international law, they are committed to respect these rights.
Core labour standards are widely recognised to be universally applicable, regardless of the level of development of a country or cultural values
Exploitation of labour
Several organisations regularly release studies not only on products that have been identified as using child labour and industries using or funded by human trafficking but also on different aspects related to the upholding of the rights of workers -- both in domestic workplace conditions as well as in the industrial sector.
This equation, most unfortunately, has another dimension which has become very difficult to address satisfactorily. It pertains to illegal immigrants who cannot complain to the authorities about underpayment and mistreatment as they would be deported. It is almost like a drop of ink falling into a cup of milk and spoiling the entire thing.
The Human Rights Watch and some other European civil rights activists have, in this regard, drawn global attention in the recent past to several unacceptable circumstances prevailing in several countries, particularly in the Middle East.
It has been pointed out that domestic workers are brought to some of the countries in the Middle East under something called the Kafala system -- an arrangement in which a migrant’s right to work, to change jobs, and to go home is entirely dependent upon the employer who sponsors their entry into the country. The dependency created by the Kafala system, as well as the lack of adequate legal protections, leaves domestic servants vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
My attention has also been drawn to a report published by Brussels-based organisation, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), on June 13. Bangladesh was rated five in the ITUC Global Rights Index 2017, meaning workers in our country have very little guarantee of rights.
It was interesting to note that Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, the Philippines, Colombia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, and Turkey shared the platform with Bangladesh.
In this context, the report referred to the bad conditions of migrant workers, particularly in Qatar. The ITUC report also highlighted the Ashulia labour unrest of last year. It assumed greater significance as it was published very soon after the ILO’s observations that appeared a few days back. ILO has now given us a deadline of November before they consider taking any harsh action against Bangladesh.
Labour rights in Bangladesh
Both reports underlined that more needs to be done to improve workplace safety and labour rights in Bangladesh. This needs greater attention given the fact that we have to soon enter into negotiations with the European Union regarding G Plus facility that will eventually replace the existing Everything But Arms (EBA) that guarantees duty-free and quota-free access.
This is a sensitive area that will also be a subject of scrutiny in our future trade relations with the United Kingdom after they have completed BREXIT. Such remarks about our labour standards might also be exploited by the AFL-CIO from the USA.
We know that our Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Ministry of Industries, and our Ministry of Commerce are actively engaged in identifying the existing challenges within the matrix and finding satisfactory solutions. However, we are running out of time. This is something that needs to be understood by all.
Muhammad Zamir, a former Ambassador and Chief Information Commissioner of the Information Commission, is an analyst specialized in foreign affairs, right to information and good governance, can be reached at muhammadzamir0@gmail.com.