Violation of labour law

By Mushfiqa Naznin Dhanmondi, Dhaka
20 September 2005, 18:00 PM
The government has declared two days holiday effective from 10th September, 2005. It is highly disappointing for us to work in some silent commercial areas, when all of our next door personnel are enjoying a long leave. We are surprised and ask, is there any Ministry of Labour in the country, more precisely, do we have a government? Private companies don't have any sort of human resource policies. There is no limitation or frame for work hours. Several IT firms open up at 9.00am and end at 9.00pm.

Due to the crisis in the job market, the IT professionals are victims of the situation created by software firms. Unfortunately, lack of professionalism, corporate ethics as well as social responsibility are strongly persistent in this sector. Despite the government's overall friendly policies, the IT firms' inhuman treatment of the professionals can be compared to the treatment of day basis construction labourers.

Poor salary structure, to put it accurately, the salary range in the IT sector is among the lowest in the market without any overtime. In this regard, we, the miserable workers of the IT industry, can expect that the media will probe this matter and ask the government to initiate an action against these unscrupulous IT businessmen who are not only violating the labour laws of the country, but also doing injustice to skilled manpower.