Business leaders on Sunday called on the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to mediate with the government to advance their demands for deferring the country鈥檚 graduation from the Least Developed Country status and for halting an amendment to the labour law that allowed trade union registration with only 20 workers in a factory.
The appeal was made during a meeting between leading figures from the country鈥檚 business community and BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at the party鈥檚 Gulshan office in the capital.
Business leaders who joined the meeting said that the BNP secretary general agreed with their concerns and assured them that the issues would be discussed with the government.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Mahmud Hasan Khan said that they had placed two major demands before the BNP leadership.
He said that the business community urged the party聽 to use its influence to communicate their concerns to the chief adviser and the interim government, especially in light of Fakhrul鈥檚 forthcoming trip to the United Nations.
The first demand centred on deferring Bangladesh鈥檚 LDC graduation by three years.
The BGMEA president argued that the country was not yet ready for such a transition, citing inadequate infrastructure and questionable statistical justifications for the graduation.
Mahmud said that they asked the BNP to persuade the government to write formally to the UN, seeking a deferment and inviting international representatives to assess the country鈥檚 preparedness on the ground.
The second demand involved opposition to the proposed amendment to the labour law that would allow a trade union to be formed with only 20 workers.
While business leaders expressed support for most of the revisions under discussion, they warned that this particular provision could destabilise industries by triggering the unchecked growth of thousands of small unions.
They cautioned that such a situation could be manipulated by vested interests, undermining legitimate worker rights and creating widespread industrial unrest.
As part of this objection, the BGMEA president submitted a counter-proposal that set out alternative thresholds for union formation, calibrated to the size of a factory鈥檚 workforce.
According to the proposal, factories with 100 to 1,500 workers should require either 200 workers or 15 per cent of the workforce to form a union.
For factories with 1,500 to 3,000 workers, the threshold should be 15 per cent or 300 workers, while for those employing between 3,000 and 5,000, it should be 10 per cent or 400 workers.
In factories with more than 5,000 workers, a minimum of 10 per cent of the employees should be required.
Mahmud said that the business community had been able to explain their position clearly to the BNP leadership.
鈥榃e now hope that they will be able to convey this effectively to the current government,鈥� he said.
BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said that top business leaders had joined a meeting with the party to raise two critical issues 鈥� LDC graduation and labour law reforms.
He said both matters were crucial for safeguarding the country鈥檚 future trade, investment and economic potential.
Khasru said that the government should formally write to the United Nations, requesting a deferment and inviting UN representatives to assess the country鈥檚 readiness directly.
On labour issues, he cautioned against rushing changes to trade union registration rules without carefully weighing their impact.
The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry聽 former president AK Azad, Bangladesh Textile Mills Association former president Tapan Chowdhury,聽 Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Mohammad Hatem, Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka president Kamran T rahman, Leathergoods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh president Syed Nasim Manzur, and Bangladesh Employers Federation president Fazle Shamim Ehsan, among others attended the meeting.
