Trade union policy strategy should give attention to both organised and unorganised workers amid the pandemic.

Different worker groups, including regular, temporary, and casual workers and small-scale employers – particularly those self-employed and involved in micro, small and medium enterprises; retailing, construction, road, commerce, tourism, and other informal sectors – are still reeling from the Covid-19 shock.

So, effective social dialogues will be the key to the sustainable recovery of the labour market.

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The observations emerged from the virtual dialogue on "Recovery of the Labour Market during Covid-19: Role of Trade Union" jointly organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) on Saturday.

Speaking at the dialogue, Shirin Akhter, member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and also vice-chairman of BILS, called for increasing the number of enlisted organised workers.

"There are many workers in the formal and informal sector in the country. But we do not have a proper list of them yet. We can grasp the overall situation of employers and workers through social dialogues," she said.

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Syed Manzur Elahi, former advisor to the Caretaker Government and chairman of Apex Group, said: "There is a communication gap. So, tripartite coordination has to be ensured among the government, factory owners and workers."

Labour Secretary KM Abdus Salam said, "All stakeholders are heard with equal importance and monitoring is taking place regularly through a central monitoring committee."