Labour leaders have proposed a 15-point workers' manifesto to political parties, urging them to prioritise workers' rights in their respective election manifestos for the upcoming national election.

They observed that although political change in Bangladesh is often achieved through the sacrifices of workers, their rights are routinely neglected once parties come to power.

The demands were made at a press conference held on Wednesday at a city hotel, organised by the Labour Rights National Advocacy Alliance.

The manifesto was placed with the aim of ensuring the inclusion of labour rights in election manifestos and securing clear national-level political commitments on labour issues.

Member secretary of the alliance and executive director of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, presented the manifesto at the conference.

The manifesto includes amending labour laws to ensure legal recognition, registration and protection for all workers; ensuring decent and dignified work and fair, living wages; and establishing safe and healthy workplaces.

It also calls for increased compensation for workplace accidents, publication of investigation reports, and adequate social protection measures such as rationing, housing and healthcare for workers.

Other demands outlined in the manifesto include ensuring the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, encouraging workers' participation in industrial relations and policymaking, eliminating harassment, violence and discrimination in workplaces, and establishing equal rights at work.

The manifesto also includes extending paid maternity leave for all women workers to six months, taking effective measures to end child labour, and ensuring accountability and transparency of labour-related institutions.

It further stresses the need for a just transition in the context of climate change, technological transformation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Highlighting the rights and safety of migrant workers and trade union rights for workers in Export Processing Zones (EPZs), it demands the establishment of a permanent national labour commission.

Nazrul Islam Khan, convener of the alliance, general secretary of BILS and a standing committee member of the BNP, chaired the conference.

Speaking at the event, he said the workers' manifesto would not remain limited to being handed over to political parties, but would also be disseminated among workers at the grassroots level.

The alliance would strengthen communication, lobbying and advocacy with national-level policymakers, he noted.

"Our objective is to build a national consensus on the rights and welfare of working people," he said.

Workers make the greatest sacrifices and shed the most blood in every democratic movement, Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed said, adding that their concerns are often forgotten during transitions of power.

He requested political parties and candidates to keep workers' contributions in mind and prioritise labour rights accordingly.

Mesbah Uddin Ahmed, senior joint convener of the alliance and president of the National Workers' Coalition; Abdul Kader Howlader, joint coordinator of Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad; Anwar Hossain, president of Bangladesh Nationalist Sramik Dal; Saifuzzaman Badsha, president of National Sramik Jote Bangladesh; AR Chowdhury Ripon, president of Bangladesh Free Trade Union Congress; Nazma Akhter, president of Sammilito Garment Workers Federation; Sekender Ali Mina, acting member secretary of Sramik Safety Forum; and Rowshan Ara, member of the women's wing, among others, also spoke at the event.