Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed :
Today’s civilization is the product of the relentless labor of countless people throughout the ages. People are busy to earn a living. He has to meet his needs through labor. The cave people gave birth to the present advanced civilization only through labor. Everything that is visible in all aspects of human life has been achieved through hard work. Labor is an essential element in every field for the betterment of human life and human civilization.
Although there are differences in labor at different levels of society, none is less important. Labor at every level is equally important according to social needs. The peasants, laborers, teachers, doctors, artists, scientists, statesmen all make their due progress in the society and the country. So the importance of labor in human life is immense. People make new progress through new creations. The hard work of today’s people inspires the people of tomorrow in new work. In a word, labor is the only way to establish human dignity and immortality from time to time. Unemployed people are lost from the earth with death. On the other hand, people who respect labor live on the pages of history forever.
Labour rights have largely been protected in Bangladesh by the Labour Act of 2006. Section 100 and 108 fix daily working hour of a labour that it should not exceed 8 hours and 10 hours including overtime respectively. Child labour has been prohibited under section 34 of the Labour Act. It has ensured maternity welfare facilities for woman workers in chapter six. Maternity facilities are restriction on employment of a pregnant woman during the eight weeks immediately following the day of her delivery, payment of maternity benefit in case of the death of a woman and restriction on termination during pregnancy. Chapter twelve also ensures the compensation for injury caused by any accident. There are other chapters in the above mentioned Act which deals with welfare measures, provision with regard to health, hygiene and safety, wages and payment, trade union, their participation in companies’ profits, provident funds, etc. Our Honorable Supreme Court has given a lot of landmark decisions for the protection of labour rights.
Just as the Father of the Nation was vocal against discrimination, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was determined to ‘put a smile on the faces of the afflicted.’ In his Independence Day speech at SuhrawardyUdyan on March 26, 1975, Bangabandhu addressed the workers. On that day Bangabandhu inspired the working people for a new awakening. In his speech at the Non-Aligned Movement-NAM Summit held in Algiers in 1973, Bangabandhu said, “The world today is divided into two parts, exploiting on one side and exploited on the other. I am for exploitation.” The exploited, deprived, oppressed, persecuted working people gave a strong place in their hearts and uttered such poignant words not only in the country, but all over the world. He knew that equality in society would not come unless the just rights of the exploited and oppressed people were established. Shortly after independence, the Father of the Nation strengthened the rights of the working people in several articles of the newly enacted constitution.
Article 14 of the Constitution speaks of the emancipation of peasants and workers: One of the fundamental responsibilities of the state will be to liberate the working people – the peasants and workers and the backward sections of the people from all forms of exploitation. Article 15(b) guarantees the right to work and wages: the right to work, that is, the right to guarantee employment in exchange for a reasonable wage considering the quality and quantity of work; The right to reasonable rest, recreation and leisure. Article 34 prohibits forced labor: all forms of forced labor; And if this provision is violated in any way legally; Will be considered a punishable offense. Bangabandhu’s sincerity has given much importance to the rights of working people in the constitution of independent Bangladesh.
The hardworking people of Bengal have earned the right to remember the first of May with reverence in free environment, for which the country and the nation are proud today. May Day is a burning symbol of the rights of working people. The foundation of civilization has been laid by the harvest of labor. That is why the right to labor has been included in the constitutional list of Bangladesh and it has been given due status. Great May Day is a source of inspiration for the realization of the rights of working people. Let us all unite and build the nation self-reliant. Above all the 1st May appears before us with the spirit of comradeship, as a source of inspiration and humanity.
(The writer is former Deputy Director General, Bangladesh Ansar & VDP).
