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Background and Justification ______________________________________________
Bangladesh is a developing country
in South Asian region with 130
million of people. According to
Labour Force Survey 2000 of the
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
(BBS), the total estimated civilian
labour forces of the country is 60.3
million and among them 37.81% are
female.
The constitution of Bangladesh has recognized fundamental
rights of the workers at work places
including necessary social
protection. Globalization and
changing economic condition
influencing traditional workplace
values, nature of employment,
working condition, welfare
facilities, industrial relations and
contemporary social protection
system. The introduction of free
market economic policies, unbalanced
economic and industrial reforms
posed serious challenges to job
security and social protection of
workers in different sectors.
The approximate ratio of formal and informal sector in
Bangladesh is 20:80 and the ratio
between public and private sector is
30:70. However 51% of employment is
covered by agriculture - forestry
and fishery sector, the production
and transport sector cover 6.4% of
employment, 1% of employed people in
clerical occupation, 4.5% in sales
and 1.2% in service sector.
Women are increasingly entering into job market mainly in
ready-made garments and allied
sector, tea gardens, NGOs, health
care services, food processing
industry, export processing zones,
services sectors and commercial
enterprises and informal sector i.e.
construction, agriculture etc.
The core labour laws of the country are Industrial Relation
Ordinance, 1969, Worker's
Compensation Act, 1923, Payment and
Wages Act, 1936, Maternity Act,
1939, Factory Act 1965, Shops &
Establishment Act 1965, Employment
of Labour (SO) 1965 etc. Majority of
the labour laws are backdated with
week enforcement by concerned
authorities and most important face
of it is that in does not covered
all section of workers.
According to recognized international definition, the
social safety nets can be broadly
defined as those instruments aimed
at providing extended social
protection, guarantee of social
security to the most needing
sections of society particularly the
working class and the social poor as
their human and social rights not
only for their human and social
objectives in public policies and
private participation, but as system
of international convents,
collective social contract and
income redistribution. This means
that social safety nets include both
social security schemes such as
guarantee of decent minimum wage;
old age/ retirement benefits;
unemployment insurance benefits;
retrenchment compensations; medical
care sickness and compensation for
employment injury and death;
maternity protection and issues
specific to women as well as social
and welfare programs, as determined
in law, policy measures, contracts
including collective bargaining
agreements and international
instruments.
In Bangladesh the root of social security system and laws
are based upon rules and regulation
introduced by the British Colonial
regime. There is no specific
national policy at present on
safety-net issue and very little
discussion took place in society on
this regard.
Decent wage is one of an important factor to achieve the
objective of decent work. Right to
receive fair minimum wage is one of
a human right for all workingmen and
women at workplaces and a key issue
for the trade unions. It is also
important to note that the UN
Millennium Development Goal or
poverty reduction strategy of
Bangladesh would not success without
having any minimum wage standard for
the workers.
But the reality is, there is no national minimum wage in
Bangladesh yet. The enforcement
machinery has little capacity to
enforce and ensure the appropriate
payment of minimum wages to various
industries in private sectors. Also,
there is no wage standard in
informal sector.
The wage structure determined by the Minimum Wages Board or
Wage Commission or the Pay
Commission is not based on minimum
daily life requirement of a worker.
For that reason, there is a huge gap
between income and expenditure level
of a worker and employees forced to
live below the poverty line.
One of an important safety-net issue for all working women
in maternity benefit right. But, in
Bangladesh the majority of the women
workers are deprived from this right
for various reasons such as the
weakness of relevant rules/acts and
lack of enforcement, negative
attitude of the employers to violate
the rules/acts, lack of awareness
among women workers about this
special right, week role of trade
unions to deal the issue, lack of
seriousness from the part of the
government on implementation and
monitoring of relevant laws at
workplace level.
The condition of maternity benefits rights of women workers
is very much low in leading women
worker intensive sectors such as the
garments, private
shops/establishments and services
sectors.
The concerned employers are not properly aware on impact of
violating this basic right of women
workers and the trade union
organizations at different levels
not giving priority the issue in
their regular activities for
discussion and action. Different
women organizations working for the
rights and empowerment of women are
not vocal on maternity benefits
rights of working women and medias
are also not much active to address
the issue.
The following study will create an opportunity to obtain a
clear picture on this issue and help
to develop a clear trade union
policy and by trade union and civil
society groups on this issue in
Minimum wage and Maternity
Protection Rights for workers.
Objectives _____________________________________________________________
To review the overall status of the National Safety-Net
policy at present for all workers
special focus on Minimum Wage and
Maternity rights protection for all
female workers.
Minimum Wage
___________________________________________________
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To review the Minimum Wage
status for all workers
considering present
Bangladesh situation for
ensuring better social
protection to workers under
the frame work of human
rights. |
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• |
To review the present
related policy and laws and
examine how far it grunted
the Minimum Wage. |
|
• |
To
access the wage determine
and payment procedure laws
in selected 3 (three)
sectors. |
|
• |
Undertake comparative
analysis in SARC region. |
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• |
Analysis
the relation between
productivity of the country. |
|
• |
Analysis
the real wage situation
inline with Millennium
Development Goal or poverty
reduction strategy of
Bangladesh. |
|
• |
To develop relevant trade
union policies and necessary
social safety-net policy for
workers to effective discuss
and negotiation. |
Maternity Protection
_______________________________________________
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To review the Maternity
Protection Laws for all
Women Workers considering
present Bangladesh
situation. |
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To review the legal
instrument and
implementation status and
weakness of Maternity
protection for all women
workers and find out the
impediments towards its
effective implementation and
recent developments status
selected in 3 (three)
sectors. |
|
• |
To
access the wage determine
and payment procedure laws
in selected 3 (three)
sectors. |
|
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To find out the joint action
among the stakeholders
(Trade Union Leaders, NGOs,
Workers, Employer
Association and Government). |
|
• |
To
formulate necessary
recommendations and trade
union policy to ensure the
minimum wage for all workers
and maternity protection for
all women workers. |
Methodology
_____________________________________________________
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Literature Review. |
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Field Survey. |
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Interview on work place
review (Institutional
structure). |
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Case study and |
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Focus
Group Discussion. |
Scope of work
___________________________________________________
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1. |
The Consultant team will
conduct an extensive policy
and laws review and review
of secondary sources and
dialogues with policy
bodies, and assess the
fundamental NMW and MP
rights of workers in
Bangladesh; |
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2. |
The Consultant team would
develop the research
methodology and instruments,
with feedback from BILS.
Therefore, a qualitative
approach will be adopted.
The aim of qualitative
research, as opposed to
quantitative, is to collect
information on a particular
subject in depth. The
purpose is to search for new
and different themes that
emerge from individuals
rather than to find out how
many individuals agree with
a certain statement. |
|
3. |
A
primary survey to be
conducted among the
different groups of workers,
employers, Trade Union
Leaders exercise of above
mention two issue based
rights and practices in
Bangladesh; |
|
4. |
The consultant team will
define ranges of
recommendations on the role
of Government, Trade Unions,
Workers and Private sector
for effective involvement
and participation, planning,
designing and implementation
of process and programming. |
Sample Size
_____________________________________________________
90 (30 work place in each sector, Large-10, Medium-10 and
small-10).
Output
_________________________________________________________
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1. |
Inception-report and related
interview plan |
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2. |
Draft final report and
presentation |
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3. |
Workshop
report/presentation paper |
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4. |
Final report and
Recommendations |
Specific Guidelines for the
consultant
___________________________________
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The consultant team will
review the present laws in
Bangladesh specially focus
on National Minimum Wage and
Maternity Protection for
workers perspective. |
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The consultant team will
collect and study the
relevant documents-
literature review, policy
review with regard to this
specific said Act. |
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The
consultant team will have a
discussion meeting with the
key staff of BILS and some
introductory discussions
need to organize with
relevant stakeholders
(Ministry of Law, Ministry
of labour, MOWCA, Labour
Directorate, ILO, FBCCI,
BKMEA, BGMEA, Individual
Factory Owners, Workers,
Trade Union Leaders and NGOs
etc). |
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The consultant team will
have to find relevant laws
in the SARC countries. |
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The consultant team will
have to give the guide-line
of existing laws monitoring
and verification policy and
procedure. |
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Organize a one-day workshop
with the relevant
stakeholders, workers, donor
organization, NGOs & trade
union leaders to share the
findings of the study and
draw further
recommendations. |
Content of the report
_______________________________________________
The content of the report will be finalized prior to
discussion with the consultant team
and BILS.
Time Frame: 3 months
Total study period will be for three months commencing from
May 30, 2005 and is scheduled for
completion by August 30, 2005.
Size of the report:
100 pages
Language of the report:
English (Executive Summary in Bangla)
Report Submission
________________________________________________
Under the supervision of the BILS Executive Director, the
Consultant team would prepare
reports for presentation at meeting
to be conducted by BILS as follows:
Inception report: This should be submitted within 15 days after getting a letter or
signing of contract agreement
whichever is earlier. The report
will also include the work plan
along with detail tasks, and details
of surveys, including questionnaire
and necessary steps for data
collection, and actions taken and
progress on these activities.
Draft Report:
should be presented by July 26,
2005.
Workshop report should be prepared
and presented by August 16, 2005.
Final report should be prepared and
submitted by end of August 2005.
Team Composition and Remuneration
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The research team will be comprised on 4 members. Team
composition will be one economics,
one sociologist and law expert and
one from trade union background. As
full consideration for the entire
services to be performed by the
consulting firm/team under the
agreement BILS shall pay a lump sum
of TK. 8,00,000/- (eight lac taka
only) on receipts of the services.
Budget
Break-down:
|
SL. |
Cost item |
Basis of calculation |
Total TK.
|
|
1. |
Researcher Remuneration -1prs |
TK. 50, 000 x 4 month x 1prs |
2,00,000 |
|
2. |
Co-Researcher -2prs |
TK. 25, 000 x 4 month x 2prs |
2,00,000 |
|
3. |
Study coordinator -1prs
(Trade Union) |
TK. 10, 000 x 4 month x 1prs |
40,000 |
|
4. |
Meeting cost |
TK. 10,000 |
10,000 |
|
|
Field survey |
|
|
|
5. |
Materials/Stationeries |
TK. 80,000 |
80,000 |
|
6. |
Data collection, sorting and analysis |
TK. 1,50,000 |
1,50,000 |
|
|
Publication cost |
|
|
|
7. |
Report publication & lunching |
TK. 1,20,000 |
1,20,000 |
|
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Total TK.
|
|
8,00,000 |
Mode of Payments
________________________________________________
On singing agreement
30% of the total payment
On submission of the draft report 30% of
the total payment
On submission of the final report 40% of
the total payment
Income Tax:
Researcher shall have to pay necessary income taxes him/her
self according to government rules.
Copyright
_______________________________________________________
Copy right of this report will be exclusively owned by BILS.
BILS will reserve the right to
change or make any modification in
this report as necessary. Consultant
or any other person concerned will
not be allowed to use any item of
the report or its parts without
prior written permission of BILS. In
many circumstances the consultant
are not allowed to use the documents
to be prepared under the contract in
their own name or organizations.
Rights and Obligation:
By this contract agreement the report and documents
prepared during the assignment will
be treated as BILS property. The
report or any part there of cannot
be used or reproduced in any manner
by the consultant.
The Report will be acknowledged as the production of the
BILS.
The consultant shall not transfer sub-contract or make
other dispositions of the assignment
agreed under this contract.
The consultant shall not assign any other person to do the
work unless accepted by BILS. The
consultant shall not change, deviate
or modify of the contract without
prior consent of BILS.
Arbitration:
During the tenure of the agreement if any controversy
arises a common arbitrator
acceptable to both the parties may
be referred to resolve the matter in
a constructive way.
Termination of the contract
__________________________________________
The contract shall be terminated at expiry of the deadlines
mentioned in the contract. But
before the expiry either party may
terminate the contract by giving 7
days notice in writing to the other
party.
BILS may terminated the contract under the following
circumstances-
Consultants negligence/non- compliance to the TOR and scope
of work of the contract;
Failure to submission of the report within the time
schedule stated in the contract;
Unsatisfactory Report;
In the event of the contract being terminated before the
expiry date by BILS the consultant
shall be compensated on a pro rata
basis for no more than actual time
spent. Additional costs incurred by
BILS resulting from the termination
of contract by the consultant may be
withheld from any amount otherwise
due to the consultant from BILS.
Both the parties have agreed to the above-mentioned terms
and conditions and have signed with
full consent and understanding.
_____________________
_____________________
Executive Director
Consultant
Date:
________________
Date:
_______________ |
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