Bill placed in Bangladesh Parliament to ban protests and strikes in essential services

COLOMBO (News1st) :  A bill has been placed in parliament of Bangladesh, to empower the government to ban strikes in essential service sector.

A person who takes the lead to commence an illegal strike or continues it, shall be punished with imprisonment for a maximum of six months or with a fine of Tk50,000 or both, the bill proposes.

The bill states that, if the government deems it necessary, in the public interest, the government can prohibit lockout (total or partial closure or suspension of work by an owner) and layoff (failure of the owner to engage workers due to shortage of raw materials or stockpiling or breakdown of equipment) at any establishment.

Keeping these provisions, the Essential Services Bill-2023 was raised in the 22nd session of the country's National Parliament on Thursday. 

The bill was placed in Parliament by State Minister for Labour and Employment Munnujan Sufian and it was sent to the parliamentary standing committee of the respective ministry for further examination.