Touhid Hossain Sarkar: The Bangladesh Workers’ Welfare Federation has presented a labor-friendly budget proposal for the 2026-2027 fiscal year based on the establishment of the rights of workers, farmers, and hardworking people at all levels, social security, improvement of living standards, and employment.
The budget proposal was presented at a program organized at the Tofazzal Hossain Manik Mia Hall on the second floor of the National Press Club in the capital on Sunday (May 24) at 4 pm.
In his speech as the president of the event, Advocate Atiqur Rahman said, “Although the main driving force of the Bangladesh economy is the working people, fair wages, social security, healthcare, housing and employment security for the workers have not yet been ensured. Due to rising commodity prices, inflation, energy crisis, unemployment and uncertainty in the industrial sector, the lives of the working people are becoming increasingly difficult.”
He said the budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year should be inclusive, fair and worker-centric, not just growth-based. He demanded a living wage for workers, a wage protection fund, a social security framework, worker health insurance, affordable housing, a ration system in industrial areas, special protection for women workers and legal recognition of workers in the informal sector.
The budget proposal emphasizes increasing the tax-GDP ratio, increasing taxes on the rich, reducing VAT on essential goods, preventing tax evasion and money laundering, providing educational scholarships for children of workers, introducing an expatriate workers’ welfare fund, and unemployment insurance. At the same time, it calls for allocating 10 percent of the total budget for the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare in the next national budget.
Central General Secretary Laskar Mohammad Taslim moderated the presentation of the budget proposal at the event.
Central Vice Presidents Golam Rabbani, Kabir Ahmed, Mujibur Rahman Bhuiyan, Deputy General Secretaries Akhtaruzzaman, Azharul Islam and Treasurer Abdul Matin were present at the time.
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