11 points of the United States to Bangladesh 21 April, 2024

The United States has urged Bangladesh to implement 11-point recommendations on various issues, including rapid reform of labor laws. The country has said that the implementation of these recommendations will play a positive role in getting duty-free market benefits in the US market.

Yesterday, in the conference room of the Ministry of Commerce, the representatives of the United States highlighted the points in the TIKFA meeting of the two countries’ trade and investment-related forum. The meeting was led by Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce for Bangladesh, and Brendan Lynch, Representative for South and Central Asia of USTR, the US Department of Commerce. Tapan Kanti Ghosh briefed the journalists after the meeting. The 11-point recommendations given by the United States are- (1) Increased penalties and fines against employers involved in violence and torture against workers involved in trade unions, organizers, protesters and institutions and individuals involved in legal and investigative activities; Labor-related activities shall not constitute a crime or criminal offence; (2) Ensuring transparency and accountability in labor-related issues against workers who have been sued by owners, company management and individuals for unethical labor practices; Ensure participation of workers in case investigation process; Unethical labor practices should be defined in specific terms in the law; (3) to reform the labor laws following the recommendations of the International Labor Organization and the standards of the international laws of the labor sector; In this case (a) the number of consents or signatures of at least 20 workers in trade union registration should be reduced; After the registration of the trade union, the registration cannot be canceled even if the number of signatories or consenting workers decreases; (b) no personal information other than the worker’s ID number, birth registration number or national identity card number shall be collected during registration; (c) ensure the attendance of all workers at two general meetings of the trade union shall be excluded from the condition of registration; Those who discriminate in the labor sector and trade union issues or engage in unethical labor practices should be penalized by law; (d) the provisions of the Act which show excessive rigor regarding the calling of workers’ strikes, should be omitted; (4) labor policy should be amended in the context of labor laws; (5) ensure workers working in Export Processing Zones (EPZs) have the opportunity to organize and bargain; (6) workers in the Bangladesh Economic Zone must ensure bargaining opportunities; (7) the administrative action order of the trade union application shall become a legal action order within 55 days; (8) pending applications for trade unions to be published online by the Labor Department; (9) The Department of Labor shall not unduly delay the registration of the trade union on the issue of workers’ signatures; In this case, all kinds of transparency and accountability must be ensured; (10) Initiatives should be taken to increase the number of labor inspectors, the number of posts and the budget in this sector in accordance with the advice of the ILO; and (11) increase fines and penalties against factories that fail to ensure labor sector compliance (including fire and building safety). Tapan Kanti Ghosh said, they urged for speedy reform of labor law by recommending 11 points. We have said that the issue of labor law reform should be done through tripartite consensus. Apart from the owners, there is the government and the workers. The labor laws will be reformed only with the decision taken through this tripartite consensus. It is time consuming.

In the TIKFA meeting, the rationale of duty and quota-free market facilities in the US market was also highlighted by the Bangladesh side, said the commerce secretary. He said that while the United States is giving market privileges to African LDCs, it is not giving them to Asian LDCs. Here the issue of discrimination is highlighted.

The secretary said, we have also proposed that the country should give tariff benefits to the garment products made of cotton imported from the United States. Apart from this, facilities have also been sought for the export of other products besides ready-made garments. USTR representatives told us that they will inform the US Congress about Bangladesh’s duty-free market benefits.