Global trade union federation IndustriALL has called on Bangladesh’s interim government to uphold the commitments outlined in the roadmap for labour rights reforms, ahead of a key discussion at the International Labour Organization (ILO) next Monday.

The ILO Governing Body is set to review the latest progress report submitted by the Bangladesh government on the implementation of the Roadmap, which was developed in response to a 2019 complaint concerning the country’s failure to comply with ILO Conventions 81, 87, and 98.

However, IndustriALL has raised concerns that the report relies heavily on statistics that do not necessarily indicate substantive improvements in labour rights.

‘IndustriALL urges the interim government of Bangladesh to implement all aspects of the Roadmap in consultation with IndustriALL affiliates,’ Atle Høie, general secretary of the global platform said in a statement issued on March 13.

The Roadmap outlines four priority areas for reform: labour law amendments, trade union registration, labour inspection and enforcement, and measures to combat anti-union discrimination and violence against workers. The GoB is required to submit biannual progress reports to the ILO.

The latest report, dated 17 February 2025, states that amendments to the Bangladesh Labour Act are expected to be finalised by March 2025.

However, IndustriALL has expressed doubts over the likelihood of this deadline being met.

IndustriALL affiliates had consistently pointed out that many of their recommendations had not been considered.

The GoB report also mentioned the 18-point tripartite agreement, which had been signed in September last year to address workers’ concerns, heralding it as a major achievement.

However, affiliates were concerned that the implementation of the agreement had not been uniform across different industrial areas.

Regarding the government’s commitment to making the trade union registration process easier, IndustriALL affiliates indicated that, contrary to the claims in the GoB report, the offline application system was not operating in parallel with the online system.

After submitting an online application, it was mandatory to submit a hard copy within three days, failing which the online application had to be resubmitted.

Furthermore, applications often took longer to process than the legally mandated 55 days.

The GoB report also claimed that from July 2020 to December 2024, 46,000 individuals, including workers, had received training on the registration process.

However, IndustriALL affiliates, which represented more than 80 per cent of the country’s readymade garment workforce, remained largely unaware of such training initiatives.

The GoB report mentioned that a total of 15,576 inspections were carried out from July to December 2024.

This indicated that about 85 inspections were carried out every day during the period.

The number of inspections was highly questionable especially considering the number of labour inspectors available, which were 441 according to the report and the kind of work that needed to be done before and after an inspection.

Regarding the action point on the elimination of case backlogs at labour courts, IndustriALL affiliates stated that labour courts continued to operate without an adequate number of judges and prosecutors.

They argued that it had been pointless to establish new courts in areas with fewer factories compared to other industrial zones in the country.

Regarding the action point on addressing anti-union discrimination, unfair labour practices, and violence against workers, the government’s entire focus had appeared to be on training programmes, the outcomes of which were not mentioned anywhere in the report, IndustriALL claimed.

Moreover, while designing the curriculum for these training programmes, no consultation had been conducted with trade unions, it said.