The European Union (EU) and the United States (US) are calling for the inclusion of trade unions in factories employing fewer than 3,000 workers, provided that 10% of the workforce expresses support for union formation. However, the government will make the final decision in this regard according to the prime minister’s directives, Law Minister Anisul Huq said on Wednesday following a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Labour and Employment at the Secretariat.

Asked what decision has been taken to increase the signature rate of workers to 10% for the formation of trade unions in industrial factories, the law minister said, “We have discussed this today (Wednesday) as well. We have brought a change as per the earlier instructions of the Prime Minister.”

I will brief the Prime Minister about it very soon, he said.

The bill to amend the labour law was passed by the parliament last year, allowing factories with less than 3,000 workers to form trade unions with signatures of 15% of the workers.

However, the President did not sign the bill due to an error.

On the question whether you [Law minister] think it is reasonable to make the threshold 10%, Anisul Haque said, “It would be appropriate to accept the decision reached through discussions between workers and employers, considering the environment of our country.”

The law minister said ILO Governing Board meeting will be held in March this year. Today’s meeting was for a briefing on our progress and what we are working on regarding labour laws.

The amended labour law must be passed in the next session of Parliament, he said.

Businessmen had a meeting with the EU on Tuesday. A journalist drew the attention of the law minister by saying that they [EU] raised questions about the working environment of the workers there.

Anisul Haque said, after an accident in Bangladesh, the attention given by the government to improve the workers’ working environment; It is very difficult to show such a precedent in any other country.

“In the last 11 years under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, there has been a radical change and improvement in the working environment. Those who are talking about it from that perspective, look at the picture of what was the situation in 2003,2004,2005, from 2012 to 2023,” he said.

It has to be considered that there has been improvement. They should speak with these things in mind, the minister added.