At the 7th statutory congress of the Bangladesh Southeast Combined Workers Federation (BSCWF) Mr. Warish Ahmed was re-elected as president for another term of three years. Warish Ahmed was the only nominee for the position of president. He expressed gratefulness to all the participants to reelect him and to continue as president of the BSCWF. Ms. Jesmin Sultana, was re-elected General Secretary. The Executive Committee was completed with 11 additional members.
Preceding the congress the BSCWF organized a seminar titled “Social Protection for the workers’ in Bangladesh (21 to 24 December 2022). The participants came from different trade unions and different districts.
Ms. Jesmin Sultana, General Secretary opened the seminar by delivering her inaugural speech. Special guest Mr. Sree Ashim Kumar Biswas, Assistant Director of the Labour Department in Khulna continued. In his opening words he mentioned that “there is no alternative to make the workers aware about their rights and make them skilled. Lots of workers lost their job during the COVID-19 pandemic period and led very difficult lives together with their family members. Workers should be more skilled and this should be done through training and the creation of alternative employment.”
In his speech on “Social Security based on the context of Bangladesh in both formal and informal sector workers” Mr. Warish Ahmed, President of the BSCWF stated that the “benefits provided by the Government for the workers under social security is insufficient, especially for the informal sector workers.” He also stressed that “the informal sector workers are unaware of their rights and benefits and they do not know how to collect their benefits. So, we must make workers skilled so that they can create their own unions and raise their voice to collect their benefits as well.”