Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and 7 General Codes of Conduct Essay

Since the affixation to world(prenominal) tender standards has do a mandatory requirement in the inter field of study business argonna, the local suppliers throw away to be compliant to these standards in order to keep on in business. in that location have been round signifi mucklet revisions to the Bangladesh prod right in 2006. This newly rewrite truth already coers a lot of the normal standards ilk employment conditions, occupational health and condom issues as closely as the ILO eye wear standards. Besides cosmos distemper to the field aim law, the suppliers must excessively adhere to the inter subject bea standards.These international standards whitethorn be defined finished their undivided emptors marks of conduct or superior familiar work outs of the conduct. respect to the buyers codes of conduct is mandatory but respect to the global codes of conduct is optional unless the buyer accepts a specific general code as a substitute for its ave r audits or requirements. These voluntary monitoring or chip initiatives have taken stand since the nineties to add legitimacy and credibleness to companies genial and environmental compliancy programs.The relative synopsis shows that the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 Coperni thunder mugly covers mass of the requirements of the several(predicate) general codes of conduct. This indicates that if a factory is 100% compliant to the national law, it will cover approximately 85% of the requirements of the conventioner(a) general codes of conduct. Hence RMG factories should be encouraged to rectify their compliance with the national law as a starting line step towards meeting the compliance demands of the brands and retailers who they show to. The analytic thinking does reveal that a a few(prenominal) requirements be not fully or partially covered by the national bear on law.It should be noted that the components which ar not fully covered by the Bangladesh Labor Law be any covered by the Bangladesh Constitution or be not directly relevant in the Bangladesh context. This study clearly reveals that the rewrite Bangladesh Labor Law along with other supporting national principles much(prenominal) as the Bangladesh mental synthesis Code and the Environmental saving Rules as hale as the boilersuit constitutional framework of Bangladesh, provides a comprehensive guideline for factories in the RMG sector to agree with majority of all international friendly compliance and environmental standards.By being 100% compliant with the national fag out law, a supplier has significantly met majority of the international requirements. The Bangladesh Labor Law has asleep(p) through some majority revisions in 2006 which has made it into a strong gentleman of legislation. in time, it is not still 100% perfect. There are still few gaps and lackings which wish to be adjusted and amended in the future. As implementation of the revised law is ongoing, nu merous other deficiencies might bit by bit be identified over time. Since novel revisions just took place, another series of revisions are not anticipated in the confining future.This comparative analysis of the newly revised Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and sevensome-spot general codes of conduct clearly illustrates where the parkalities and differences are. Overall, the recent revisions to the Bangladesh Labor Law and other national legislations that are associated with the RMG sector such as the Bangladesh Building Code and the Environmental Conservation Rules jointly provide comprehensive guidelines for RMG suppliers to manufacture and exportation products under well-disposedly and environmentally liable on the job(p) conditions which also meet majority of all prevailing international standards. 2. 1 General Codes of Conduct Definition of Codes The pursuit in the hearty situation of workers in evolution countries has change order constantly over the last years in sp ecific under civil societies and consumers in the alter countries. fond criteria have become an important part of consumer and investment decisions of individuals and organizations and therefore also big brands and retailers become more awake of compliance to companionable standards. Since Bangladesh is part of 1 A comparative analysis mingled with the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and seven general codes of conduct he global marketplace affable compliance is extremely relevant for the export-oriented industry of Bangladesh, especially for the RMG sector. For emulousness in the global markets, the compliance with environmental and affectionate standards is a key point. Through newfangled information and communication technologies the economic employment of companies becomes increasingly transparent and makes it easier for the civil parliamentary procedure to uncover and communicate social and ecological failure of multinational companies.Companies know rough the vulnerabili ty of their brand names and messages concerning great(p) working conditions can easily stultification their image as well as the market position. A social amenable perplexity policy is therefore in the long-term interest of the enterprise. just companies can have a positive becharm on the economic development in the target countries through the introduction of social standards and on the same time improve their image and market share through social and ecologically accountable carriage.To wrap up these issues voluntary monitoring or verification initiatives have taken root since the 1990s to add legitimacy and credibility to companies crunch compliance programs. They are all voluntary, substance that companies opt to participate in them. separately requires member companies to adopt its respective oeuvre code of conduct and verifies that they have complied with organisational requirements. Today, some industries have create or are under demonstrable codes for the enti re industry. That can be best seen for the apparel and footwear sector. General Codes of Conduct as well as buyers codes are very parking area in this industry.These codes of conduct are rules, which companies trim down upon themselves in order to embody social and ecological goals in the enterprise. Companies formulate these rules broadly for itself and partly also for the suppliers and orient themselves with the conceptualisation at the international regulations and agreements already mentioned. Codes of conducts may also be recognized as useful instruments to build on the companies image. A lot of companies are participating in this initiatives to show their interests in improving the working conditions of their business partners/suppliers across the global.Fair plow and buying practices are a competitive advantage for many businesses. The codes show their shipment to this process. Codes of conduct may be developed through a multistakeholder approach such as ETI etcetera or companies may have their own codes of conduct which are specific for their suppliers or codes could be sector specific such as for garments, food, electronics etc. 2. 2 Basis of codes Social compliance can be measured in relation to a certain standard. Concerning environmental and quality vigilance a numerousness of standards and certification systems already exist.The introduction of examinable social standards represents however a new challenge. internationally recognized social standards exist, e. g. ? United Nations oecumenical proclamation of Human Rights UN principle on Childrens Rights UN Convention on the excreta of all Forms of Discrimination against Women ? ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work ? Rio Declaration on Environment and Development However these are guidelines and recommendations which can be converted voluntarily. Standards that can be certified alone exist to a small extent. nigh of the codes refer to these mentioned internatio nal standards, especially the ILO sum labor standards. The ILO formulates international standards in the form of conventions and recommendations setting minimum standards of basic labor rights Freedom of experience The right to ordinate 2 A comparative analysis between the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and seven general codes of conduct Collective negociate Abolition of forced labor comparison of opportunity and treatment Besides the supra mentioned standards, there are other standards correct conditions across the entire spectrum of the work tie in issues.These principles are concretized in 8er from Decatur ILO conventions, in each case two for the quaternity fundamental principles mentioned (see table 1). The ILO conventions are bounden only if they are ratified by the member states. The entire number of the ratifications increased in the last years noticeably and varies depending upon convention in the order of magnitude between 148 and 172. Until July 2007, 128 countrie s had ratified all eight conventions. Bangladesh has ratified seven out of the eight core conventions.Table 1 ILO hollow-Conventions and ratifications in Bangladesh1 Standard Freedom of association and negotiate Elimination of forced and compulsory labor Elimination of discrimination Abolition of barbarian labor Convention Convention 87 (Freedom of association) Convention 98 (Right to organize collective bargaining) Convention 29 (Forced labor) Convention one hundred five (Abolition of forced labor) Convention 100 (equal remuneration) Convention 111 (employment and occupation) Convention 138 (Minimum age) Convention 182 (worst forms of child labor) confirmation Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No YesCodes of practice develop frequently from public pressure or are preventively developed. In addition to the mentioned core labor standards these codes include general working conditions standardised occupational health and safety, minimum wages, get away days and working hours. Other com mon aspects include womens rights or environmental standards. Also the implementation of a management system can be a requirement. 2. 3 How codes evolved The overall aim of social standards is to protect the workers.During the industrialization in europium they evolved as a reaction to swingeing working conditions in the newly emerge factories. The depletion of large parts of the workforce locomote child labor, forced labor, freedom of association and collective bargaining as well as womens rights in the sum of public attention. Socially responsible behavior this means also ecologically responsible behavior has its starting point predominantly in the developed industrialized countries. The card of social standards must be upgrade supervised also in these countries.The by far larger action postulate lie however in developing and emerge countries. Through the increasing world-wide section of labor large parts of the takings chain are located in developing countries which have deficits with the observance of social standards. While working abroad companies are supposed to be compliant to the juristic regulations. In developing and emerging countries sanctioned regulations do not always jibe to the domestic standards of the companies. So it can be difficult for companies to combine national legislation and generally recognized basic values. tear down if the legislation in developing and emerging countries corresponds to the standards of the industrialized countries there are deficits in monitoring and implementation of the standards. 1 conjure to the ILO website http//www. ilo. org/ilolex/english/docs/declworld. htm. 3 A comparative analysis between the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and seven general codes of conduct However an internationally defined and recognized social standard does not exist. Thus different stakeholder came up with the idea of codes of conduct to assure the compliance to international social standards.Social standards are extre mely important in an industrialized world. Nowadays due to monetary benefits, most companies outsource their production to developing countries where compliance to social standards is not as important. The problem is that consumers and respective governments ask for socially responsible behavior and working conditions and a good deal the suppliers and governments of the developing countries cannot enforce or mark off compliance to these international standards.This issue has become a concern for the companies located in Europe and the USA and hence the companies came up with formulating codes of conduct which their suppliers have to adhere to if they need to do business with them. Companies started off by developing their own codes of conduct. Then in stages as the codes evolved, many companies teamed up with NGOs, hand unions, academia etc. to formulate common codes of conduct. Most general codes of conduct were developed with this multistakeholder approach. 2. 4 Classificat ion of codes epending upon the standards they contain (all codes have similar requirements but differ in the definitions/design and some have also additional requirements e. g. waste management or anti-bribery policy) depending upon which organization or institution introduced the code and who controls the observance (companies, enterprise federations, trade unions, NGOs, management consultations or testing institutes) depending upon their members and their prevalence.Within these four categories subjects were identified as well as indicators to measure the implementation and coverage of the subjects. The indicators were selected agree to the most common aspects of the general codes as well as the Bangladesh Labor Law. 2 Please refer to Annex I for a broad overview on the general codes of conduct. 4 A comparative analysis between the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and seven general codes of conduct Subjects of Codes of Conduct ILO Core Labor Standards Employment Conditions Occupational wellness and safety