Govt relaxes some labour laws for tobacco company for six months

Employees of British American Tobacco can, if they want to, work up to 60 hours a week instead of the current maximum permissible weekly hours of 48, the labour ministry has said.

Besides increase in the weekly working hours, the ministry in a notification has also provided the company with a conditional relaxation of some of the clauses of the Labour Act 2006 for six months 'considering public interest'.

Anti-tobacco organisation Progga has expressed concerns over the workers' health.

The organisation said on Saturday that Section 102 of the Labour Act has fixed maximum of 48 hours as the weekly duration of work that an employee is expected to put in.

The ministry notification infringes upon this legal immunity of the BAT workers, Progga feels.

Besides Section 102, the company has been given a waiver over Sections 100, 104, 105 and 114 (1) of the act from Sep 25 2016.

The relaxation of Section 104 means that the company is not under compulsion to provide compensatory leave to the employees against missed holidays, Progga said.

Progga in its release also said, by providing a tobacco company with such legal relaxation, the dream of the prime minister to create a tobacco-free Bangladesh can never be attained.

 

Source: bdnews24.com, 2016-10-03