Wednesday, September 17, 2014

An Article on Problems and Prospects of Trade Union in Bangladesh [Trade Union movement in Bangladesh]

 University of Dhaka




Problems and Prospects of Trade Union in Bangladesh






Trade Union:
Trade Union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals such as protecting the integrity of its trade, achieving higher pay, increasing the number of employees an employer hires, and better working conditions. It’s a group of employees in a particular sector, whose aim is to negotiate with employees overpay, job security, working hours, etc. using the collective power of the members.

Some Authors definitions are given below
“Trade union is a continuous association of wage earners for the purpose of maintaining and improving the conditions of their working lives.”
 -Sydney & Webb
Functions of Trade Union:
The most common, but by no means only purpose of trade unions are maintaining or improving the conditions of employment. Over the last three hundred years, many trade unions have developed into a number of forms, influenced by differing political and economic regimes. The immediate objectives and activities of trade unions include protection and promotion of the interests of their members. Regulating the relations between workers and employers or workers and workers or employers and employers is another objective of trade unions. Besides these there are some more objectives of trade unions. They are -
Provision of benefits to members:
Early unions would give their members unemployment pay in case they were hurt on the job, unfairly fired, or sick. This is usually done by the government today. Unions may also give their members a lawyer to represent them if they are ever sued in court or charged with a crime. Early trade unions, like Friendly Societies, often provided a range of  benefits to insure members against unemployment, ill health, old age and funeral expenses. In many developed countries, these functions have been assumed by the state; however, the
provision of professional training, legal advice and representation for members is still an important benefit of trade union membership.

Collective bargaining:
Where trade unions are able to operate openly and are recognized by employers, they may negotiate with employers over wages and working conditions. The leaders of a union work with management (the people who run the business) in order to get a contract that gives workers what they want. This is because union leaders can threaten to strike.
Industrial action:
Trade unions may enforce strikes or resistance to lockouts in furtherance of particular goals.
Political activity:
Trade unions may promote legislation favorable to the interests of their members or workers as a whole. To this end they may pursue campaigns, undertake lobbying, or financially support individual candidates or parties (such as the Labor Party in Britain) for public office. Unions often work to get laws passed which help their cause. Some raise money for politicians who are friendly to unions. They also lobby for laws which help out unions. Some political parties are very close to unions, like the Labor Party in the United Kingdom.
Article 8 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ensure the right to form and join trade union and use strikes
Strikes
If collective bargaining does not work, unions often use strikes to get their demands. However, the threat of a strike is usually enough: over 98% of union contracts are renewed without a strike.
With these four major objectives trade unions of Bangladesh work for maintaining or establishing these minor objectives. Workers satisfaction and protect their rights are focus point of trade unions.
1.       Democracy and Human Rights; Empowerment and Equality; Dignity, Credibility and Responsibility of trade union; are among the major objectives of trade unions.
2.       To strengthen the capacity of the trade union movement to become recognized as an active partner in the social dialogue regarding the development process of Bangladesh.
3.       To contribute to the effective participation and functioning of the TU movement in the tripartite mechanism.
4.       To develop a workers friendly mind-set of the society where workers rights are recognized and honored.
5.       To contribute to a greater unity in labor movement and encourage organizing more workers in Trade Unions.
6.       To contribute to strengthening of the democratic process of Trade Unions and their ability to improve services to their members.
7.       To contribute to the process of establishing an exploitation free society by ensuring workers fair share in the national wealth and development.
8.       To contribute to strengthening national, regional and international solidarity and networking of the workers organizations and Institutions.
9.       To enhance the ability and skill of the TU movement to render services, and the capacity in order to address the priorities of their members.
10.     To enhance the ability and skill of the TU movement to recruit more members and gain more practical strength to combat challenges.

Trade Union in Bangladesh:
As a developing country trade union plays an important role in Bangladeshi industrial society. There have been found three basic structure of trade union in Bangladesh.
       National Federation: National Trade Union federation consists of basic unions irrespective of job categories. A National Federation was constituted by two or more basic trade unions irrespective of the Trade. Now it needs 20 registered basic/Industrial Unions.
       Industrial Federation: It is the body of unions from the same industrial sector. It deals with common problems and demands of the sector. Basic unions within the sector are its members.
       Basic Union: This is the main union formed by the direct participation of the workers Grass root level activists are the members of this Factory level/ workplace based unions. Elected body of industry of factory level unions works as Collective Bargaining Agent- CBA




Total number of registered trade unions in Bangladesh
Categories
Total number of unions/federations
Number of unions included
Number of members
National federation
32
1,264
1,263,665
Industrial federation
108
721
640,221
Garments federation
26
80
50,149
Basic union
5,242
-
2,069,614

BANGLADESH TEXTILE & GARMENT WORKERS LEAGUE
Membership
 Potential membership   :         57,100
Actual membership        :         52,800
Thereof women              :         17,277

Baseline information on membership
Textile:                 Male :         29,120        Female :        1,605
Garments:            Male :           6,403        Female :      14,147
Home workers:     Male :               -            Female :        1,525 

Gender distribution in decision-making structure (female Percentage) 
Federal level                   16%
Union level                     10%
Branch level                    3% – 5%



Characteristics of Trade Union in Bangladesh:
There are some common characteristics which are found in Bangladeshi trade unions. Such as
1.     Lack of awareness about trade unions: Most of our Bangladeshi industrial workers come from the rural area and approximately maximum of them have a very low educational background or none. So they don’t well understand that what are trade union for and how can they achieve their legal right by trade union.


2.     Paternalistic/hierarchical system: Our society is more or less used to the paternalistic method of governing. There are some factors which do not let the system to be fully democratic. The workers do not have equal say in the decision making.

3.     Lack of proper information: Information gap to the root level members in the associations is common phenomena. So they just fall victims of sudden decision given by the leaders.

4.     Leaders sometimes forgo common interest:Sometimes leaders do not take proper care of employee interest. They give emphasize on their personal interest and let the common interest be relaxed.

5.     Negative attitude towards unionism:  As all the members are not appropriately known to the legal rights and functions of trade union, they may slower trade union for achieving its goal by creating negative impact.

6.     Provision of equal right of men and women:Our trade unions have long sought about the portions enjoyed by men and women workers and they have achieved a result that our workers regardless of men and women enjoy equal wages.

7.     Take part in political activities: Our trade union leaders not only lead the workers of the organizations but also play an important role in the political field of the nation thus contributing to the national development.

8.     Instigated by political interest: Too much involving in politics of the leaders may create consolidations in the way of achieving goal.

9.     Take part in management process: Our union leaders take active part in the decision making of the organization management and thus they make sure that the sayings and frustrations of common workers are being presented before the employer.

10.                        Bargaining with the employer: In the time of bargaining situations our trade union leaders take active part in the bargaining and present their issue on behalf of the members. Thus they manage to collect the rightful position o the workers in the organization.



History of Trade Union in Bangladesh:
The British rulers introduced Trade Union Act, 1926. The main purpose of the Act was to provide registration for trade unions and in certain respects.The East Pakistan Trade Unions Act, 1965 was enacted repealing the Trade Unions Act, 1926. The Labor Disputes Act, 1965 was enacted and Industrial Relations Ordinance, 1969 was enacted integrating the above two Acts.
Government of Bangladesh declared a labor policy in 1972. The right to strike and collective bargaining in the nationalized industries was prohibited for six months by Presidential order no. 55 in May 1972.
In 1973, the right to strike and lockout, as granted by IRO, 1969 was withdrawn.
In 1974 Act completely suspended the democratic rights of workers by prohibiting trade union activities such as strikes, lock-outs, and collective bargaining.
The military regime of 1975 imposed restrictions on the rights of collective bargaining.
The Industrial Relations (Amendment) Ordinance, 1977 liberalized the Rights of Freedom of Association.
The Labor Policy of 1980 restored the right to freedom of association to a considerable extent.
In 1982 the military regime banned trade union activities, strikes, and right of freedom of association.Full trade union activities were restored by the democratic government in 1991.
In 2006, an updated, consolidated and unified version of labor laws was enacted.
During the Emergency in 2007-2008 that lasted for 23 months, trade unions and collective bargaining were prohibited and the determination of collective bargaining agent could not be made. However, full trade union activities were restored by the democratic government in 2009.
Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 chapter XIII completely describes how a trade union will be formed and registered in Bangladesh. Any trade union in Bangladesh must be registered and regulated under this law.




Strength and weakness
As many 23 central federation till now being registered. No central federation has strength that they can launch nation wide struggle independently. They do not have such organizational or financial resource either. Almost all political party has a trade union.All these except a few trade union, mostly depend on support and financial help from the political party. That is also a reason that the ruling party’s trade union center has much more affiliate unions than others. When there is shift of government will be shift in affiliation also. The trade unions here also depends on support from International Trade Union Federation and Foundations. They gets funds from International Trade Union Federation and Foundations for holding seminars, publications and other activities. The gate free passage to go abroad to attend seminars and meetings. The foreign visit is so frequent for some trade union leaders that they are almost occupy with arrangements of travel – procure visa, preparing seminar paper and others and left hardly any time to do trade union work.
This become an important aspect of trade union movement here. An example can be sit here, Jatiyo Sramik League, labor wing of Awamy League has recently took affiliation of International Confederation of Trade Union. Formerly it was with former Soviet Union led World Federation of Trade Union. Abolish of Soviet Union and socialist state in eastern Europe WFTU had lost its membership and resource and now noting a position to offer free air ticket for foreign trip and offer hospitality in Hotel Metropole or Hotel Ukrine in Moscow to its affiliates in developing countries. Though AL chief Sheikh Hasina took personal initiative in the beginning of eighties to get SL affiliated with WFTU, SL did not lost no time to shift to ICFTU. Though there are mounting pressure for trade union unity from the workers, the trade union movement, initially set up as an extended hand of a political party, continues to function more or less as an extended hand of the political party of its affiliation.

Trade unions in Bangladesh and its impact
Limitations
In Bangladesh Trade Unions have a lot of unavoidable problems. These are
1. Lack of consciousness: Trade union are not actually completely aware       about employees legal rights and duties.
2. Lack of Unity: In Bangladesh trade unions are separated for political influence.
3. Lack of knowledge: The workers of Bangladesh don’t have enough knowledge about their rights and duties.
4. Political influence: In Bangladesh, trade unions work a part of political parties not as a free right saving association.
5. Division of trade union: Bangladesh is a country where every organization has more trade unions in name only. The overall productivity got down.

Positive impacts
Trade union plays a major role in creating ideal working conditions.
1. Trade union always helps management to create better policies for workers.
2. Trade unions negotiate for the standard wage and benefits with the management.
3. Trade union helps the management to increases the productivity as well as the profit.
4. Political influence’s existence makes the trade union not to interfere in management decisions.
5. Trade union is hugely helping the management to produce more and implementing management tactics.

Negative impacts
1. Trade Unions are creating a surplus of manpower but not of productivity.
2. Trade union of Bangladesh bargains more than they understand because of the limitations of their knowledge. If don’t consult then they strike.
3. Trade Unions have equal power of management then clashes are started.
4. In companies labors are awarded for good work and threatened for bad work. But if it’s punished then trade union interfere and don’t let to happen the punishment. So it increases crime of the labors.
5. Trade union leaders always try to save their interest first then the labor.
6. For the power of politics trade union always dishonor the management.


Problems of trade unions in Bangladesh
The shortcomings or the weakness of the trade union movement in Bangladesh are as follows:
1. Lack of Balanced Growth
Trade unions are often associated with big industrial houses. A vast majority of the working population is without any union backing. The entire agricultural sector is highly unorganized in Bangladesh. The agricultural workers are subject to all kinds of exploitation. The same is true with respect to those working in small scale and cottage industries. Lack of balanced growth of trade unions in all sectors is one of the major weakness of the trade union movement in Bangladesh.
2. Low Membership
Trade unions, with the exception of few have low membership. This is because many employees are not willing to join unions although they are ready to enjoy the benefits arising out of the union actions. The reasons for the hesitation of employees to join unions include, among others, the need to take pat in strikes and such other programmer, fear of pay cut and fear of punishment.
3. Poor financial Position
Low membership is one of the reasons for the poor financial position of the unions. Moreover, the subscription payable by every member is kept low. Some members may not even make a prompt payment of the small amount of subscription. These are also not very many sources from which unions can get funds. They may probably depend on contributions from philanthropists. The poor financial position can only weaken the trade union movement.
4. Political Control
Most popular trade unions in Bangladesh are affiliated to certain political parties. These political parties are only keen on making every grievance of the working class a political issue to attain political gains. As a result the problem only gets wide publicity and remains unsolved.
5. Multiplicity of Unions
Often there exists more than one union within the same industry each backed by a political party. These various unions have conflicting ideology. If one union comes out with a strike proposal another union may work against it. As a result, none of the unions is actually able to solve the problems of the workers.

6. Inter-Union Rivalry
The existence of many unions within a particular industry paves way for what is called inter-union rivalry. These unions do not work together for the cause of the workers. Each union may adopt a different approach to the problem. The inter-union rivalry may become a more serious problem of the workers. As a result, the employees are unable to derive the benefits of collective bargaining.
7. Lack of able Leaders
Another barrier to the growth of trade unions is the lack of able leaders. Some union leaders give a strike call even for petty problems that can easily be resolved through talks. On the other hand, there are leaders who have secret pact with the management. They get bribes from the government and work against the interests of the employees. Some leaders don’t convene a meeting of the general body at all even when a crisis develops. They take unilateral decisions that are thrust on the employees.

8. Lack of Recognition
Most management is not prepared to recognize trade unions. This happens because of any of the following reason.
The existence of low membership that reduces the bargaining power of the union.
The existence of more unions within the same industry.
Inter-union rivalry.
The indifferent attitude of the employees themselves towards trade unions.
9. Opposition from Employers
Apart from the fact that most employers are not prepared to recognize trade unions, they also do not let their employees from a union. This the employers are able to achieve by adopting certain punitive measures like intimidating employees victimizing union leaders, initiating disciplinary action against employees indulging in union activities and so on. Some employers also start rival unions with the support of certain employees. Sometimes, they may go to the extent of bribing union leaders to avert a strike or such similar show of protest by employees. The employers fail to understand that the union enables the employees to express their grievances in a democratic manner and can also be used as a means of promoting better labor management relationships.

10. Indifferent Attitude of the Members
Union leaders alone cannot be blamed for the weakness of the trade union movement. The indifferent attitude of the members of certain unions is also a barrier. Some members do not even make a prompt payment of the subscription amount. The treasurer of the union has to go behind them, remind and persuade them to pay the subscription that is often a very small amount. There are on the other hand, members who do not attend the general body meetings nor do they bother to know what is discussed in such meetings. There are still others who do not take part at all in any of the programmer of the union organized to press the demands of the employees like slogan shouting procession, demonstration, hunger strike etc. Members generally expect the office-bearers to do all that is necessary to achieve the demands.

Prospects of trade unions in Bangladesh
The experts discussed the problems and prospects of the trade unions in Bangladesh
Today there’re trade union activities of Bangladesh where the politicians, representatives of the state apparatus, MPs, the businessmen and journalists gathered under the auspices of the discussion.
In Dhaka, there was the regular meeting of the discussion on the theme “Trade unions in Bangladesh: the role of the social modernization.”
The panelists discussed the role that trade unions must belong to the effective model formation of the social and labor relations at the present stage. They  discuss the issues of trade union for the prevention of the social and labor conflicts, the role of unions in improving the labor law of the country, in particular the adoption of the New Law “About Trade Unions”, the subject to collective bargaining.
The panelists also discussed the initiative of  on the establishment of Trade Unions Council. The Council is the standing advisory body to the fund, which aims are to facilitate the tasks implementation for the social partnership development and collective bargaining regulation of the social and labor relations for the group fund.
The meeting of the trade union experts was attended by Chairman, Federation of Trade Unions of Bangladesh. After limited time duration a general meeting is held at different places. Here governing bodies of central trade union attend with president and general secretary as well as organizing secretary. Sometimes representatives of government attend the meeting and plays roles to maintain the worker’s right. Different online, print, and electric media’s journalists gather there.

Suggestions
At different trade union’s meeting and newspaper experts and specialists suggest various solutions to solve present different problems and prohibitions. These are as follows
1. Strengthening bilateral collective bargaining for solving problems quickly and effectively.
2. Multiplicity of trade union creates the rivals in a union. So it must be reduced.
3. Political involvement must be reduced.
4. Organization must support financially as trade unions support the worker.
5. Training programs under trade union should be helpful to develop the skills of the workers.
6. Trade union’s function should be increased and widened throughout the organization.
7. Union leader must be given importance and encourage the members.
8. If trust between workers and management increases, productivity increases.
9. Management must help and guide trade unions to settle industrial clashes and crisis.
10. Trade unions always should demand reasonable thing to the management.






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References:
Azijul Haque, functions and introductory part, 2013,

Mesbahuddin Ahamed, An article of Trade union in Banladesh, Registered Trade Union And their members, 2013.

Dr. M. Ataur Rahman, Industrial Relation, Zahin Publication, 2014.

BBS (2009), Gender Statistics of Bangladesh 2008, Government of Bangladesh.