Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (; United Front of Workers and Employees) is a national federation of 16 unions in Bangladesh which collectively represent 90 percent of the unionized labor force in Bangladesh.

History

Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad was established on 13 April 1983 by 12 national unions in Bangladesh. This traces to a meeting of 5 unions in Bangladesh in 1982, when union activities where banned under martial law in Bangladesh, that sought to restore workers rights to unionize. The number of participating unions increased to 11 by the end of 1982. The

Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal The Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Sramik Dal is a national trade union federation in Bangladesh and an affiliate of Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation. Anwar Hossain is the president of Jatyata ...

, aligned with

Bangladesh Nationalist Party The Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয়তাবাদী দল, Bangladesh Jātīyotābādī Dol; BNP) is a centre-right to right-wing nationalist, political party in Bangladesh and one of the major ...

, joined in 1983 and they collectively formed the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad. The formation was announced at the

Jatiya Press Club Jatiya Press Club is the professional club for journalists of Bangladesh located in the capital Dhaka. The current president is Farida Yasmin and the General Secretary is Elias Khan. History The Jatiya Press Club was founded in 1954 as the Ea ...

. They declared a 5-point demand to the

Chief Martial Law Administrator The office of the Chief Martial Law Administrator was a senior and authoritative post with Zonal Martial Law Administrators as deputies created in countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia that gave considerable executive authority and p ...

of the Government of Bangladesh concerning labour rights. In 1983,

Jatiya Sramik League The Bangladesh Jatiya Sramik League ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় শ্রমিক লীগ "Bangladesh National Worker's League") is a national trade union federation in Bangladesh. Nationally, it is affiliated with the ...

, aligned with

Bangladesh Awami League Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, joined the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad. The military regime led by General Hussain Mohammad Ershad initially tried to ignore demands. Smaller unions in Bangladesh started to follow the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad. The Minister of Industry,

Golam Mostafa Golam Mostafa is a Bangladesh Nationalist Party The Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয়তাবাদী দল, Bangladesh Jātīyotābādī Dol; BNP) is a centre-right to right-wing nationalist, ...

and Minister of Labor, Aminul Islam, met with representatives of the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad. The government facing the threat of national strike signed an agreement with the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad to increase the rights of workers on 21 May 1984. The Parishad went on strikes to ensure the government implemented the agreement. In 1984,

Kazi Zafar Ahmed Kazi Zafar Ahmad (; 1 July 193927 August 2015) was a Bangladeshi politician of the Jatiya Party, who was the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1989 to 1990. Early life Ahmed was born in 1939, in village: Kazi Bari Cheora Chauddagram Upazila, C ...

of Bangla Sramik Federation and

Sirajul Hossain Khan Sirajul Hossain Khan (1926-2007) was a Jatiya Party politician and former minister and member of parliament for Habiganj-2. Early life Khan was born on 17 July 1926, in Baniachong village, Baniachong Upazila, Habiganj subdivision, Sylhet dis ...

of Bangladesh Workers Federation joined Jatiya Party led by Hussain Mohammad Ershad and were appointed government ministers. Their respective organization left the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad following. Tajul Islam of the parshiad was killed by the Bangladesh Police while participating in the strike. In 1986, Ruhul Amin Bhuiyan of the Jatiya Sramik Jote and

Shah Mohammad Abu Zafar Shah Muhammad Abu Zafar is a Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician and a 3-term Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Faridpur-1 constituency. Career Zafar joined Bangladesh Nationalist Party in 2003 from Jatiya Party. He decided to contest ...

of the

joined the Jatiya Party which further weakened the parshidad. In the 1990s, the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad signed a number of agreements with the government of Bangladesh for improving labor conditions and carried out a number of strikes to force the government to implement those strikes. Beyond labour issues the organizations has campaigned for greater rights for religious minorities.

References

National trade union centres of Bangladesh 1983 establishments in Bangladesh Trade unions established in 1983 Organisations based in Dhaka Labour relations in Bangladesh {{Bangladesh-org-stub