Bangladesh workers get better benefits, rights after collapse

Bangladesh's parliament Monday passed a law aimed at enhancing factory safety and workers rights after a series of industrial disasters left more than 1,250 workers dead since last year, dpa reported. The legislation allows workers to form unions and establishes a welfare fund for factory employees, into which factory owners are to pay 5 per cent of their profits. Ruling coalition lawmakers voted for the bill while opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party members were absent from the session on the legislation, which also makes group insurance for factory employees mandatory as well as compensation for workers in case of their deaths, termination and accidental deaths while working. Labour and Manpower Minister Raziuddin Ahmed, who presented the bill to parliament, said it would ensure the safety of workers and their right to form unions, reforms long demanded by factory employees.