Tawhid Hossain Sarkar:
Advocate Atiqur Rahman, central president of the Bangladesh Workers’ Welfare Federation, said that although there are laws, regulations, the Ministry of Labor, the Department of Labor and the Labor Court to protect the rights of workers in the country, in reality, workers are being deprived of their fair rights. He said, “The biggest failure of Bangladesh is that there are laws, but there is no proper implementation and supervision of the law.”
He said these things in his speech as the president at the first meeting of the newly formed sector officials of the 2026-2029 session.
The meeting was moderated by Labor Welfare Central General Secretary and Shipping Ghat Labor and Load Unlock Sector President Laskar Mohammad Taslim, and was attended by Rickshaw-Van Sector President and Labor Welfare Central Senior Vice President Professor Harunur Rashid Khan, Transportation Sector President Kabir Ahmed, Land Port Sector President Mujibur Rahman Bhuiyan, Agriculture and Fisheries Sector President Golam Rabbani, Chatal Sector President Dr. Ziaul Haque, Tailor and Weaving Sector President Advocate Alamgir Hossain, Construction Sector President Nurul Amin, Shop Employees and Hawker Sector President SM Lutfur Rahman, Co-Central Vice Presidents, Secretaries and responsible leaders of various sectors.
Advocate Atiqur Rahman said that according to government estimates, there are about 75 million workers in the country. Most of these workers work in different sectors based on their profession, but their problems have not been effectively resolved even today. He alleged that the real interests of the workers have been neglected as a large part of the country’s labor movement has been conducted under the influence and authority of the ruling party for a long time.
He said, “Although the relevant institutions are supposed to play a role when the rights of the workers are violated, in reality the workers themselves are the victims of harassment. Even when they seek their rights, they are not getting the desired cooperation from the state.”
He further said that about 85 percent of the country’s workers are still outside effective legal protection. Agricultural workers, chatal workers, port workers and a large number of workers in the informal sector do not have any security, allowances or legal benefits.
The central president of the federation said, “Although there are numerous trade unions in Bangladesh, in most cases personal interests are given priority. The lack of truly worker-friendly and ideological leadership has weakened the labor movement.”
He claimed that the Bangladesh Workers Welfare Federation is selflessly working to achieve the rights of the workers and where the organization is strengthened, a disciplined and systematic labor movement is developing.
Regarding the upcoming national budget, he said, “In a country where crores of workers are deprived of minimum medical, education and housing facilities, the allocation for workers’ welfare is very inadequate.” He demanded the introduction of a rationing system for workers, medical allowance, education assistance for children and employment for unemployed workers, and called for allocation of at least 10 percent of the national budget for workers’ welfare.
He said to the members of parliament and political leaders, “If you are elected by the workers’ votes and do not speak on behalf of the workers in parliament, then it is a betrayal of the people.”
Finally, he said, “No one gives workers’ rights, they have to earn them. An uncompromising movement must be built to establish the just rights of workers. We want to be friends with the workers and stand by them and establish a beautiful and humane environment in the labor sector in the future.”
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