Effective coordination and strong network among organizations fighting for workers’ rights is a must to ensure necessary rights of tea workers of the country.
Speakers say during a workshop between Bangladesh Cha Sramik Union (BCSU) and and National Coordination Committee on Workers Education (NCCWE) and its affiliated trade unions for strengthening networks and promoting the rights of the tea garden community in Bangladesh.
The workshop was jointly organized International Labour Organization (ILO) and Indigenous Peoples Development Services (IPDS) at a seminar hall in Sylhet city on Wednesday morning.
During the workshop, delegates from BCSU, NCCWE, Sramik Kalyan Oikkya Parishad (SKOP) and many other workers’ rights organization were present.
In the workshop, the working paper was prepared by BCSU’s Executive Advisor Ram Bhajan Koiry and presented by its Vice-President Ponkoj Kondo.
In the paper, they said that the newly declared gazette of the Minimum Wage Board raises many obligations like the time duration of contract between garden owners and workers is extended to three years while it was traditionally two years.
The gazette also introduced a traineeship period for new workers which is against the century old tradition and will become a tool to deprive workers, the paper mentioned.
To ensure demanded rights for tea workers, support of NCCWE, SKOP and all trade unions’ is important to convince the Wage Board and the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the paper recommended.
Alexius Chicham, national programme coordinator of UN SDG Joint Programme briefed about the programme while Saidul Islam, programme officer of ILO and Sanjeeb Drong, president of IPDS presented welcome speck.
Mesbah Uddin Ahmed, chairman of NCCWE and Jesmin Akhter, vice-president of BCSU also addressed special remarks in the workshop.
Originally published on Sylhattoday24
