A move is underway to amend the provision of requisite rate of worker representations for registration of trade unions (TUs) in industries, officials said, to meet international recommendations.
The ministry of labour and employment is working on the amendment to some of the provisions of the country's labour law in line with the recommendations from the European Union and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
A proposal for trimming down the required representations of workers for the formation of TUs is also under scrutiny, they said, adding that the other provisions relate to issues that include enhancing compensation and definition of worker.  
According to the existing labour law, 30 per cent of an enterprise's minimum memberships are required to register a trade union while labour leaders and western stakeholders demanded the lessening of the requirement to 10 per cent, they explained.
"Membership-threshold requirement for unionisation may be lowered in the amendment, but it will not be flat for all factories," said a source involved with the process.
The existing rate might be applicable to garment units having 500 workers and the rate might be lowered to 10 per cent for units having 5,000 workers, the source said.
"We are working to address the ILO recommendations shortly taking the socioeconomic situation of the country into consideration," labour secretary Mikail Shipar told the FE.
Regarding the threshold of the representation requirement, he said they are not in favour of allowing more than three unions in a factory, whatever the threshold criterion is.
Officials said the government might lower the rate gradually, ranging from 15 per cent to 20 per cent, depending on the number of workers in a unit.   
A tripartite committee is working to address the ILO recommendations within the set timeframe, and the panel would finalize the draft amendments to the labour law by mid-August.
The government at the International Labour Conference (ILC) held last month in Geneva made commitments to send the drafts of the amended labour law and export-processing zones law in line with the ILO recommendations by August 31.
Expressing deep concern, the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions at the Conference said workers are still obliged to meet this excessive requirement for initial and continued union registration and that unions whose membership falls below this number will be deregistered.
Emphasizing that such a high threshold for merely being able to form a union and maintain registration violates the right of all workers, without distinction whatsoever, to form and join organizations of their own choosing, the Committee reiterated its previous request for a review of the rate.
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Source: The Financial Express