Speakers at a workshop on Tuesday urged the government to implement labour compliance in the Savar tannery industrial hub.
They said the tannery industry was shifted to Savar in 2017, but housing, schools and healthcare or hospitals for labour are yet to be established, which is a negligence to the leather sector.
The speakers said this in a coalition-building and advocacy meeting, organized by Tannery Workers Union (TWU) and Global Solidarity Center, Bangladesh Office, held in a hotel at Palton in the capital.
Abul Kalam Azad and Abdul Malek, president and general secretary respectively of TWU, Monika Hartsel, Deputy Country Director of Solidarity Centre, Shamim Ara, president, Jatiya Sramik Federation, and Advocate KM Nasim, among others, spoke in the function.
The speakers also said the women workers are leaving their job in the tannery industry due to lack of labour compliance.
They blamed tannery owners for forcing experienced workers to leave the leather sector jobs, with the intention to appoint low paid new workers.
The workers leaders also urged the government not to pass any law in the parliament against labour benefits. While labour will remain healthy, the production of industry will grow smoothly.
A keynote presentation in the workshop said that ensuring social compliance in the leather industry will create scope of product diversification and attract buyers from developed countries like the US and EU.
Labour compliance would open the door to achieve the certificates of the Leather Working Group (LWG), a global multi-stakeholder community, the presentation said.
Without getting its certificates from the LWG, no country can export leather to Europe, the US and some other countries, they said.
"Once we get the certificates, the leather from our country could be exported to Europe and other countries that would improve the tannery sector and boost the economy," the keynote paper stated.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment approved the two-year work plan on April 21, 2022 and directed the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments to execute it.
The tannery leaders also gave a 10-point demand for workers' well being, including a new wage board for fixing minimum wage in the factories.