Bangla Press Desk: The Labour Reform Commission in its final report to the interim government has recommended that a ‘permanent minimum wage commission’ should determine a national minimum wage for workers across all sectors irrespective of government, non-government and private jobs.
The commission also recommended setting separate minimum wages—each at or above the national standard—based on factors such as the nature of the work, occupational risk level, industry sector, and the region of employment.
The recommendations further include increasing the national and sector-wise minimum wages in every three years, enforcing insurance, and bringing all workers under a social safety net in case of occupational hazards, casualty, sickness, or untimely retirement.
Formed on 18 November last year, the commission, led by Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, submitted the report to chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at his official residence Jamuna on Monday.
Citing that recommendations also aimed to help informal and the expatriate workers get identification cards and registration as workers so that they can gain job security and social safety under the labour law, Sultan said, ‘We want to break the non-bargaining barriers of the informal sectors.’
For this purpose, the commission stressed the creation of a ‘national workforce registration system and database’ on an emergency basis.
If there is a delay in paying wages, workers must be informed in advance and if the due wages are not paid within the rescheduled date, the employer will be obliged to pay a penalty at the rate of 0.5 percent of the wage for each day of delay, up to a maximum of 30 days, Sultan said, citing the commission’s recommendations.
Citing the recommendations to eliminate discriminations based on gender, race, religion, group and ethnicity, Sultan said, ‘We have recommended a workplace cooperation committee and an arbitration body at every industrial unit so that the aggrieved workers do not need to take to the street to press their demands.’
The commission members including Mahfuzul Haque, Zakir Hossain, Tapan Dutta, AKM Nasim, M Kamran T Rahman, Chowdhury Ashikul Alam, Shakil Akhter Chowdhury, Anwar Hossain, Farrukh Ahmed, Rajekuzzaman Ratan, Taslima Akhter and Ariful Islam were present in the press briefing. Source: DS
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