Labour court summons Yunus, 3 others

Dhaka’s Third Labour Court summoned Grameen Communications chairman Muhammad Yunus and three other high officials of the company on February 6 in a criminal case filed against them by the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments.

Court bench officer Nuruzzaman told New Age on Thursday that DIFE inspector Md Tariqul Islam filed the case also against the company’s managing director Nazneen Sultana, director Abu Hai Khan and deputy general manager Gauri  Shankar Sarkar for flouting several sections of the Bangladesh Labour Act.

Tariqul said that the case was filed on January 5 as Grameen Communications, an enterprise of Grameen Trust, founded by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, had been ignoring the department’s notices for informing it whether they had taken permission to appoint employees through a registered contractor.

GC authorities were also asked to inform the department whether they maintained the required documents for the employees as per the law.

‘What else could be done as the company continuously ignored the government agency’s notices after taking corrective measures for the gross violations of 33 vital sections on appointing employees, giving them benefits and terminating them?’ Tariqul said.

‘After getting complaints from Grameen Communications employees that it was unlawfully terminating them, I inspected it on two occasions and found that the company itself created an unregistered contractor, showed its employees as the contractor’s just to deprive them of the benefits and the job security that regular employees enjoy,’ he added.  

Tariqul further said that Grameen Communications did not provide its employees with appointment letters and identity cards and did not keep service books for them just to deprive them of their due rights as regular staff.

The company deprived the employees of their due rights to various welfare benefits, leaves, compensations and retirement benefits, he further said.

Moreover, it has not taken any registration licence from the department and has never submitted annual and half-yearly returns, he said.  

Tariqul said that he filed the case against the GC authorities under Section 302 (e) and 307 of the law.

For not keeping records of the employees, a guilty shall be punished with a jail term which may extend to six months, or with a fine which may extend to 5,000 (five thousand) taka, or with both under Section 302 (e) of the law.

If any person contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of this act or any rules thereof, they shall be punished with a jail term which may extend to 3 (three) months, or with a fine which may extend to 25,000 taka, or with both, stipulates the act’s Section 307.

Gauri Shankar Sarkar said that they would defend their positions before the labour court on February 6.

Dhaka’s Third Labour Court on Sunday posted February 9 for handing down the verdicts in two cases filed by sacked Grameen Communications employees against Nazneen and deputy general manager Khandaker Abu Abedin for terminating them after they wanted to form a trade union.

Five other cases, filed on the same grounds, against Yunus and two others are pending with the court.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net