What INSP!Ring happened in Bangladesh in 2022?

Regarding labour standards, the Government of Bangladesh continued to implement the road map on the Labour Sector in Bangladesh (2021–2026): tripartite discussions on amending the Labour Act, 2006 and the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) Labour Rules, an online trade union registration process at the Department of Labour, finalization and approval of the framework for the ready-made garment (RMG) Sustainability Council (RSC) which took over inspections from the Accord, formation of a committee to draft a national wage policy. 2023 should see a new minimum wage established for the garment workers, since the last increase was done in 2018 at a very disappointing 8.000 BDT. With the exponential double digit inflation, most trade unions are now demanding 23.000 BDT. Issues of occupational health and safety continued to plague Bangladesh: on 19 April, students of Dhaka College violently clashed with poor shop keepers of New Market area, setting shops on fire. On 4th of June 2022, a fire and subsequent explosions at a container depot in Chittagong killed at least 47 people and injured around 450 others.

Regarding social protection, the government of Bangladesh launched in June 2022 a long lobbied for social security scheme working on income protection and medical care for work-related injuries, the first ever Employment Injury Scheme for garment workers. It is overseen by a tripartite committee. Several brands pledged to contribute. In December 2022, the government also announced a long lobbied for first universal National Pension Scheme, which provides a pension to all citizens over 60 years who have contributed for at least 10 years. Here, however CSO representation is severely lacking in the design and implementation. 

Bangladesh is also set to graduate from the Least Developed Country status by 2026, meaning export rates for the EU will be affected.

Some results of BSPAN, the Bangladesh INSP!R network

National level: 190 members of BSPAN were mobilised for advocacy actions during national days and 57 BSPAN members interacted with policy makers to promote access to social protection  and to ratify ILO Convention 102 on minimum standards for social security. 

Learning: 1.000 members increased their awareness on social security, shared lessons and experiences. 22 BSPAN members received basic training on how to use social media and 23 BSPAN members advanced training on Social protection issues.