Bhutan’s ILO membership mooted
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12 January, 2009 – The standard of Bhutan’s labour will not be questioned if the proposal of the ministry of labour and human resources (MoLHR) to join the international labour organisation (ILO) comes through.
The MoLHR director general, Pema Wangdra, said that the standard of Bhutan’s labour is questioned when it is not a member of ILO. “When Bhutan submits the periodical report of child rights to the committee of international convention of child rights, they always questioned why Bhutan is not a member of ILO and advised to join.”
| Unlettered in the (labour) law T wo years after the labour law was passed, both employers and employees are not well aware of the same, according to the labour ministry, whose officials are in Phuentsholing conducting consultation workshops.Officials said that even senior level company officials are not aware of the labour law. “It’s very difficult when the dealing officers are not aware of the law when there are disputes to settle,” said an official.On January 8, officials and employers extensively discussed the need of signing employment contracts as required by the labour law to be clear for employers and employees as there are many cases of unlawful terminations and resignations. “Lots of labour disputes are springing up and not having proper employment contracts has been a problem in resolving disputes,” said labour’s director general Pema Wangdra. Officials of the ministry said that workers were not aware of their own rights provided by the act. The labour act allows workers to form a worker’s association within the company. “There are IT, tour operator and industrial associations, which are all employers and not a single worker’s association so far,” said the director general. The ministry also warned companies, who recruited unrestricted foreign labourers. The agencies and employers welcomed the motivation of reducing labour recruitment agencies as a positive step towards creating better service without security lapse and capability to deliver.
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The MoLHR secretary Dasho Dr Sonam Tenzin, in a consultative workshop with private and corporate sectors on labour and employment and the labour act in Phuentsholing this week, said that the ministry is working towards joining ILO.
The proposal, said the director general, has been submitted to the labour and human resources minister to be discussed with the cabinet of ministers for approval.
The idea of joining ILO was first initiated in 2001 and the ministry has held consultation meetings twice with a team from the ILO regional office for south Asia. “We learned all the advantages and disadvantages of joining ILO and our ministry is convinced that joining ILO is an advantage for Bhutan,” said Pema Wangdra.
Joining ILO, he said, means technical assistance in human resource administration, vocational education and training and employment promotion in the country.
Besides the provision to allow employees to form workers’ committees being mandatory, the other basic requirements required to join ILO were to have a representative each from the government, the employers and the employees called a ‘tripartite.’
ILO was founded in 1919 and is the global body responsible for drawing up and overseeing international labour standards. It became the first specialised agency of the UN in 1946 and functions on “tripartite,’ bringing together representatives of governments, employers and workers to jointly shape policies and programmes, giving an edge to incorporating ‘real world’ knowledge about employment and the world.
By Samten Yeshi (Kuenselonline)