HAPTER-1

INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION:
Introduction
Objectives of the Study
Methodology
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1.1 Introduction:

Bangladesh is a developing country. There are many small and large

industries in our Bangladesh. According to Frank Tannenbaum, trade unions are the byproduct
of an industrial society. Our country also is not exceptional to that concept. We have different
types of trade unions in our country. Trade unions unify the people working in the same level. It
has different of objectives. But it mainly focuses the objective of protecting workers respective
and united interests in the industry. Trade unions cherish several prospects. But they have to face
different problems in different times and different situations. Sometimes they have to go for a
movement to the problems or to protect their interests.

1.2 Objectives of the Study:

Before studying the report better it to be specific about

the objectives of the study which are as follows:

To know detail about the trade union movement in Bangladesh.

To find out the problems of trade unions.
To focus the prospects of trade unions.
Try to find out probable solutions of the problems faced by trade unions.

1.3 METHODOLOGY
The study has been carried out following extensive theoretical review, focus group discussion,
intensive group consultation, visiting source centers, library work and assessment and
enumeration of problems with the aim to find out a reasonable illustration of trade union
movement in Bangladesh and its most realistic problems and also prospects. Here also attempt
has been made to find out the most probable solutions to overcome the existing problems taking
into the facts and aspects of the trade union movement in Bangladesh.

CHAPTER-2

FLASHBACK TO
TRADE UNION:
A brief introduction to
trade union.

Functions of trade
union.

Objectives of trade

2.1 A Brief Introduction to Trade Union: In simple words trade union is a mutual
association of independent wage earners.
A trade union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals
in key areas, such as working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with
the employer on behalf of union members (rank and file members) and negotiates
labor (Collective bargaining) with employers. This may include the negotiation of wages, work
rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits,
workplace safety and policies. The agreements negotiated by the union leaders are binding on the
rank and file members and the employer and in some cases on other non-member workers.
To be more specific we can be said that, trade union is a mutual association of people working in
the same level or under the same platform and associated to ensure their respective and united
welfare.

2.2 Functions of Trade Union: Trade unions perform some special types of activities
which can be described in the following way:
Functions relating to members:

To safeguard workers against all sorts of exploitations by the employers.

To protect workers from the unfair labor practices of the management.
To ensure healthy, safe and conducive working condition.
To ensure a desirable standard of living providing various types of social services.
To guarantee a fair deal and social justice to workers ect.

Functions relating to organization:

To highlight the organization as a joint enterprise of both workers and management.

To help in maintenance of discipline.
To create opportunities for workers participation in management.
To facilitate effective communication between workers and management ect.

Functions relating to trade union:

To improve financial position by fixing higher subscription, organizing special fundrising.
To preserve and strengthen trade union democracy.
To improve the network of communication between the trade union and its members.
To eradicate various types of isms within the trade union ect.
Functions relating to the society:
To render all sorts of constructive co-operation in the formulation and implementation of
plans and policies relating to the national development.
To launch special campaigns against social evils of corruption, nepotism, communalism,
casteism, regionalism, black marketing, smuggling and illiteracy etc.

2.3 Objectives of trade union:

Making workers aware of the advantages of the trade union and make them understand
their position in the organization.
To get economic security that is the first prospect of workers.
To oppose management from taking any kind of discriminatory and injustice decision.
To communicate workers view s to the management.
To secure protection from economic hazards.
To avoid industrial conflicts etc.

Trade Union
Movement:

CHAPTER-3

Trade Union
movement
Trade Union
Movement in
Bangladesh.
Stagnation of labor
movement.

3.1 Trade Union Movement: There is a general tendency that is, workers want more
payment paying less labor and management wants to get more labor paying less payment.
Moreover, there are some other interests of the both parties which are likely to opposite to each

other. So there exist a conflicting situation between the above two parties. Generally whenever
this conflict becomes acute then situation takes the shape of a movement. It may also be against
the government.

3.2 Trade Union Movement in Bangladesh: Trade union movement is organized

activities of workers to improve their working conditions. In the early stage of industrial
development when there were personal contacts between employers and workers, there was no
need of any organization to determine relations between the two. But under the modern factory
system the personal touch is absent and the relations between the employer and the worker have
come under strain. The conflict of interests between buyer and seller of labor power has become
conspicuous and this had led to the rise of trade union movement throughout the world. The
tradition of the parallel development of the nationalist and the trade union movement, which had
originated in British India, continued through the Pakistan period down to the birth of
Bangladesh.
For the first time in India the Bombay Mill Hands Association was formed on 24 th April, 1890.
This gave impetus to the trade union movement in British India. The establishment of ILO in
1919 provided a source of inspiration for the workers to organize themselves and shape their
destiny. Indias membership of the same exerted great influence in the formation of a central
organization of workers called All India Trade Union Congress in 1920 for the purpose of
conducting and co-coordinating the activities of the labor organization.
During Pakistan period most trade union leaders held conflicting views and the trade unions were
fragmented and weakened. As a result, the trade union movement met a setback and the trade
union activities passed into the hands of petty bourgeoisie leadership. Moreover, the trade union
movement in Pakistan was characterized by fragmentation of unions, prolonged strike retaliatory
lockouts and picketing which sometimes led to violence.
As the trade union movement in Bangladesh originated in British India And Pakistan, it naturally
retained its old character of working more as a nationalist force against colonial domination than
a class force vis-avis capitalist exploitation. As a result, the trade union movement of the region
that had gained momentum in the hands of political leaders stood divided along the political and
ideological lines in independent Bangladesh.
During this period, the trade union movement was marked by direct interference by the
government and ruling party in its internal affairs. In many industrial belts terrorism was let
loose by the men of the labor front of the then ruling party and tired to drive out the honest trade
unionists from the leadership of the unions. Moreover, the barring of out sides from trade union
leadership at the basic union level made the process of union hijacking very easy and turned the
workers into a very weak and defend less community.
In the early 1980s, Sramik Karmachari Oikka Parishad (SKOP) emerged to establish the
democratic right s of workers as well as to fulfill their economic demands. Most NFTUs were in

SKOP and since 1983, most trade union movements in Bangladesh have been organized und the
leadership of SKOP.
The opportunism and lenient attitude of the trade union leaders including SKOP gave the ruling
regimes a chance to disregard the agreement signed between the government and the trade union
leaders. At present, the leaders of nineteen of the twenty three NFTUs are included in the SKOP.
After its formation, SKOP submitted a 5-point charter of demands for establishing their
democratic rights and higher wages through rallies, torch processions, demonstrations, strikes,
HARTALS, blockades etc.
Ironically, SKOP failed to yield any tangible results for the working class people of the country.
The effectiveness of the trade union movement under the leadership of SKOP gradually
weakened because most SKOP leaders have political affiliations and therefore, cannot escape the
influence of their respective political parties, moreover, lack of active support by the major
political parties to SKOPs programs, excessive pressures on government by the private
employers and donor agencies to disregard SKOP;s demands using repressive measures to
disrupt the trade union movement, forcible occupation of unions, bribing of trade union leaders,
opportunistic and compromising attitude of the union leadership rendered the SKOP demands in
effective. In fact, SKOP has become a moribund forum of the working class with little to offer to
the countrys future trade union movements.

3.3Stagnation of labor movements in the era of globalization: The

readymade garment industry has emerged as the main manufacturing sector
in Bangladesh since the 1980s when the World Bank and other international
agencies in cooperation with the local elites ushered in an export-oriented
development policy in the third world. The sector has also attracted a large
number of unskilled rural women. Major issues ranging from low wages,

worsening working and physical conditions of the factories, lack of welfare

facilities such as healthcare, day-care, housing, education for the workers
children, physical and sexual harassments, etc have yet to be addressed in a
telling manner, either by the state or by the owners. Although there is no
bar, the workers in the RMG sector seldom address the labor issues using
labor unions. In a broad sense, the labor unions in Bangladesh in the era of
globalization have completely failed to address labor rights although the
workers in this sector are absolutely exploited by the owners as some social
scientists, such as Ronaldo Munck, think. Thus, it is very important to identify
the major constraints of labor movements in Bangladesh in the RMG sector
in the era of globalization.
Firstly, labor movement in Bangladesh, in modern sense, is very weak although some
Bangladeshi writers (mostly activists) see a glorious past of labor movements in Bangladesh.
Even if we accept those movements as partially successful ones, those movements, in a broad
sense, are the offshoots of various political movements developed against various repressive
regimes such as colonial and military ones. Hence, many historical peasant and worker
movements, integrally related to the broad political movements, lacked independent working
class character. Some notable political movements that merged labor movements are FakirSannyasi movements, Faraizi movements, Swadeshi movements and Khilafat-non-cooperation
movements against the British colonial regime, six-point demand movements during the 1960s
and the anti-autocratic movements during the 1980s. Hence, broadly speaking, modern labor
movements in Bangladesh developed in the 1905s, 1920s, 1930s, 1960s and 1980s in various
sectors were parts of the ongoing political movements launched for the national liberation and or
the restoration of democracy, far from the sole agendas of the working class.
Secondly, unlike Revisionism philosophy in Germany, Syndicalism in France, Fabianism in
England, or Class Collaborationism in America labor unions in Bangladesh could not develop
any unique labor ideology or philosophy. This limitation was even identified 50 years ago by
some social scientists when they studied the constraints of labor movements in the British
colonial rule. The possible ideologies that could have developed in this region were the radical
and leftist kind of labor movements, developed during the 1920s, 1930s and 1960s in the jute and
cotton mills, and the tea gardens in Bombay and Bengal and the Sattagrah ideology, i.e. nonmilitant, peaceful and democratic movements, introduced by Gandhi in the cotton textile mills in
India in the 1920s. The possibility of emergence of a radical-militant kind of labor movement
was foiled partially by the influence of the Cold War politics, by the hegemonic influence of the
US, by the collapse of the Soviet Union, and partially by the existence of the traditional social
formation (largely based on feudal and peasant relations) that has yet to be transformed into a
modern form. Also, lack of union culture is a remarkable historical feature in the labor unions in
Bangladesh. Contributions toward the union in the form of membership fees, internal union
democracy and transparency, regular meeting and agenda settings, development of new

leadership through votes, having permanent union offices and officials, institutional mechanism
for developing working class solidarity, the prerequisites for modern unionism, are all absent in
the labor union politics in Bangladesh.
Thirdly, like the development of the major social and political institutions, development of the
labor unions and labor movements were immensely influenced by the 200 years of British
colonialism. Hence, similar to the forms of political protests developed by the political parties
during the colonial regime, labor unions in Bangladesh developed various forms of protest
movements such as street protest, occupation or hereof of a managers office or a factory,
spontaneous and sporadic outburst, vandalism, assault and militancy largely representing
spontaneous, unorganized and unplanned forms of protest movements in the twenty-first century.
In fact, absence of formal channels and absence of social justice in the colonial regime (since
colonial regime was essentially an exploitative regime in the history) rendered these primitive
forms of protest movements in Bangladesh. Absence of the formal-modern channels of easing
workers grievances are still absent and hence the primitive kinds of movements still continue as
the colonial nature of the state and colonial attitudes of the elites dominate in the society
opposing workers unions right.
Fourthly, labor unions in Bangladesh could not develop independently because of their
overwhelming dependency on the political parties and leaders amalgamated during the colonial
regime. It is interesting to mention here that, unlike in the west, a large number of political
leaders in this subcontinent holding the powerful positions of presidents, prime ministers and
ministers were the main executives of the All India Trade Union Congress and other labor
unions. Similarly, using state power various political parties in power started politicizing labor
unions beginning during the 1930s. Two such notable examples are the Bengal National
Chamber of Labor, and the Indian National Trade Union Congress developed by the Muslim
League and the Indian National Congress respectively when the parties were in power in Bengal
and other provinces in India. Both the labor organizations were developed opposing the
hegemony of the communist leaders dominating in the All India Trade Union Congress, the
umbrella organization of the workers during the colonial regime. Later, the successive regimes in
Pakistan and Bangladesh, especially the military rulers, politicized labor unions and thereby
undermined the interests of the working class. Thus, politicization of labor unions and interunion rivalry became one of the main barriers for strong labor movements in Bangladesh. It is
very interesting that unlike the domination in the public sector unionism, political parties in
Bangladesh have yet to develop any intimate relationships with the labor unions in the RMG
industries. Hence, labour unions in the RMG sector do not get strong supports from the major
political parties in Bangladesh. One possible cause might be that that many political leaders
belonging to the mainstream political parties became the owners of many readymade garment
industries since RMG business has been a very profitable one.

Fifthly, backward, docile and timid nature of the migrant rural women workers are the major
constraints forming labor unions and launching labor movements in the RMG sector. Because of
overwhelming majority of the rural migrants women, who did not have any past experience, who
uphold feudal allegiance toward their owners and other management officials, and who have
been socialized with traditional pariah system and patriarchal values, the owners exploit these
meek and docile workers absolutely. Hence, because of feudal, religious and traditional gender
relations, women workers do not even think about raising questions against any management
decisions and their exploitations, let alone organizing unions or launching protest movements.
Also, paternalism that has guided political-social relationships for a long time in a feudal and or
semi capitalist country like Bangladesh also works in the contemporary industrial relations. In
fact, this paternalistic attitude obstructing the development of formal industrial relationship still
exists both among the workers and the owners of the RMG industries. Most of the RMG workers
are illiterate and hence they dont have any knowledge about workers rights and labor laws.
Finally, overdeveloped and soft nature of the state, gelatinous and premature nature of civil
society, absolute profit-seeking motives of the owners, role of military rules in spreading neoliberal and unregulated market forces, the irresistibility of capital in terms of power of the
multinational corporations and the supranational organization such as the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization all have undermined the labor
movements in Bangladesh in the era of globalization. As we see, in the most postcolonial states
the military, civil bureaucracy, politicians and business elites are the main beneficiaries enjoying
enormous power. Intervened by military rules, many third world countries, such as Chile, Brazil,
Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc, produced the prototypical structural features in
terms of labor-capital relations. In a very common fashion, these military dictators implemented
the neo-liberal agendas by introducing structural adjustment policy, patronized the powerful
business elites while repressed and suppressed the workers rights either by banning the activities
of labor unions or by introducing the politics of cooption.
In Bangladesh, the two successive military regimes restrained labor protests by buying many
radical and left labor leaders and by providing them lucrative state posts such as ministers and
advisors. The other two major apparatuses such as civil bureaucracy and political parties have
immersed into corruption, nepotism and lootings, whose members seldom think about the
welfare of the poor workers. The essence of overdeveloped state is very similar to what Gunner
Myrdal termed the third world states, i.e. the notion of soft state. According to Myrdal, all third
world states are inefficient in terms of managing huge activities by various public wings, rather
than by the civil society being common in the west. In reference to the labour rights of the poor
workers, we see that the state does not provide enough supports to the poor workers since the
poor workers are powerless and have no voices. Although Bangladesh ratified various ILO
conventions and although labour rights are vividly conceded in the constitution and other labour
policies and documents, violations of labour law and ILO ratification is a very common thing;

very little evidence might be found where the state officials monitor the applications of labour
laws and the ILO conventions.
In fact, no actions are taken against the owners even though concomitant violations of labour
laws and ILO conventions have been a common phenomenon in all the private sectors including
the RMG industries. Since the colonial regime, on many occasions, it has been found that the
workers protest movements have been instigated by the repressions of the state and the private
forces of the employers, i.e. by the state police and hired thugs. In fact, for both the premature
development of the educated middle class and civil society, the poor workers do not get any
moral supports, valuable resources and pressures that might be acted otherwise as a pressure to
the powerful state apparatuses and the employers on behalf of the working class.

3.4 Example of trade Union Movement:

On Human Rights Day, Bangladeshi garment workers demand
protections for trade unions:
18 December 2009
To commemorate Human Rights Day, the National Garment Workers' Federation
(NGWF), a leading Bangladeshi trade union and War on Want partner, organized a large
rally of several hundred garment workers in the capital Dhaka.

The marchers called on the government to protect

the right to join and form trade unions, which is enshrined under the International Labour
Organisation Convention on Freedom of Association. Bangladesh ratified this convention in
1972.
The protestors aimed to bring attention to the fact that despite the country's Labor Law, which
protects the right to freedom of association, in practice most workers who attempt to organize
face hostile resistance from employers. The garment workers demanded that the national

government guarantee this fundamental human right, as well as enforce the country's existing
labor laws.
On the same day in Dhaka another rally was organized by the Export Processing Zones (EPZ)
Workers' Center - sister organization started by the NGWF in 2000. At the demonstration over
hundred workers marched under a banner that read "Trade Union Rights - Human Rights Rally".
The NWGF has been campaigning for the rights of EPZ workers, who are prohibited from
forming trade unions.
Bangladeshi workers joined in solidarity with garment workers in Thailand and the Philippines
who were fired by Triumph International, a clothing manufacturer. NGWF President, Amin
Amirul, wrote a letter to the CEO of Triumph International demanding the company reinstate all
fired workers and resolve the problem through dialogue with the workers and their trade union.

PRORBLEMS OF TRADE UNION

CHAPTER-4

4.1 Problems of Trade Union in Bangladesh: Bangladesh is the one of the least
developed countries. It become a sovereign state fairly recently (1971),and informal employment
are widespread. It has a very low unionization rate. However, between 1990 and 2000 it
experienced an increased in trade union membership. During this period , the rate of growth of
membership was 1.63 percent and that of registered trade union s 5.3 percent .A majority of
wage workers replying to the PSS in Bangladesh were drawn from the garments industry, and
until recently workers in that industry were discouraged from forming trade unions.
There are several problems of trade union movement in Bangladesh. Followings are the
Problems of the union of Bangladesh:

Organizing: The union destiny in Bangladesh is quite low. Because majority of

workers outside the purview of trade union. Therefore the topmost priority of trade
unions would be to embark on organizing campaigns especially the unorganized and
informal sector. 70 percent of the workers work in the informal sectors.

Job security: Millions of workers have lost their job in recent years because of
globalization. Therefore the job security have become top most priority.

Unity: It is a major priority for the trade unions to strive for bigger unity among the
organized workers with the ultimate goal of establishment of a single, strong,
independent and viable union in our country.

TU Rights: Violation of trade unions rights rampant in our Bangladesh. Therefore

effective implementation of core labor rights standard would be a top priority in trade
unions movements.

Unemployments: Unemployment has assumed alarming proportion in Bangladesh.

So trade union movements concern about that problems.

Gender equality: Women do not have a voice in the decision making bodies.
Recruiting women workers and bringing them into union positions.

Lake of awareness about trade unions: Our country is a developing country and
most of our people are still illiterate. The same thing is true for the workers who are
mainly migrants from rural Bangladesh.

Paternalistic/hierarchical system: Ours society is more or less used to the

paternalistic method of governing. Though it is a democratic society, still there are some
factors which do not let the system to be fully democratic.

Lake of proper information: Most of our members of unions do not get the real
information about what is going on the upper level. So they just fall victims sudden
decisions given by the leaders which they may not approve.

Leaders sometimes forgo common interest: Not only in our country but it is
universal that sometimes leaders do not take proper care of the employee interest.

Negative attitude: As mentioned before most of our people do not realize what the
benefits of trade unions in gaining the fights of the workers.

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.

Instigated by political interest: Sometimes the union leaders get too much
involved in the political activities that they use the union as a tool of politics and thus
hamper the activities of the organization as well as the lives of the workers.

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

Bargaining with the employer: when situation arise, our union lauders do not
hesitate to bargain with employer about issues. They present the issue from their point of
views. Thus manage to collect the right position of the workers in the organization.

CHAPTER-5

Prospects of
Trade Union.
Probable
Solutions.

ality
Gender Equ

5.1Prospects of Trade Union: The following diagram highlights the prospects of trade
union in Bangladesh:

ions

Bargaining
Not to violate Agreement Provisions

Signing Agreement

t
Rela
d
o
Go

Figure: Prospects of Trade Union

We can elaborate the above points in the following way:

Specific Law: Trade union will have centrally recognized specific laws through which
trade union will be spontaneously operated and managed.

Trade union should consider employee interest: The first and foremost
expectation workers hold from trade unions is that they would take care of employee
interest.

Trade union would take active participation in management: Trade union

leader sure the representative of common workers. When any enterprise makes any major
decision which also concerns the wellbeing of the workers, it is expected that the union
leaders must have a say in the decision making what to do or what not to do for the
betterment of the enterprise or the workers.

Trade union would bargain reasonably with the employer: When the union
people negotiate with the employer, so that the other party gas to take into consideration
what they are actually saying.

Trade union would sing agreement the employer: Industrial democracy means
that workers and employers should feel that in the work they will be evaluated and
respected as free persons of equal value within the framework of the rules and natural
order and discipline.

Trade union would not violate any agreement provision: It is also expected
from the union that they sign an agreement with the employer to maintain an environment
of mutual trust and respect of t in the working place.

 Good Relations: There will exist good relations among trade union, management and
government.

Gender equality: Trade unions expect there will not be any discrimination in terms of
gender difference in the industrial settings.

5.2 Probable Solutions: After analyzing all facts we can come to a situation to indicate
some probable solutions to the problems faced by trade union which are as follows:
Firm consolidation among all the members of the trade union.
United, reasonable and strong urge to recover their rights and to preserve their rights to
the authority.
Management should be liberal to the employees.
Government as the central power should aware of the condition of the workers of the
country.
Government should take vigorous initiatives to preserve the rights of the workers.
If needed government should interfere in case of preserving rights of the workers.

Conclusion

CHAPTRER-6

References

6.1 Conclusion: Existing labour rights and emerging trends of trade unions in Bangladesh call
for re-thinking. Trade unions in Bangladesh contribute to a lack of solidarity and collaboration
on certain issues. The union movements consider 'reaching out to the unorganized and
vulnerable' groups as a way to ensure the future relevance of trade unions. By removing the
political leadership from trade unions and other labour organizations; by reducing government
intervention and at last by amending the existing labour-industrial laws, proper trade unions and
labour rights can be ensured in Bangladesh.

6.2 REFERENCES
Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies (BILS),
Dhanmondi, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Industrial Relations by Dr. M. Ataur Rahman
www.google.com (Google Search).