Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said on Friday that ‘The Mass Media Employees (Services Conditions) Bill, 2022’, which was placed in Parliament on March 28, would be amended.
He said this while talking to journalists at his residence on Minto Road in the capital on Friday. He said the proposed law would be amended after discussion with the journalists and stakeholders.
Hasan Mahmud made the comment in reaction to disagreement of journalists with the proposed law. He also reacted to the statement of the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) as the organisation said that the proposed mass media law doesn’t guarantee job security, relevant benefits, and other rights of media workers.
The TIB demanded the Bill be amended with active participation of media persons and stakeholders. Journalist leaders also demanded that the parliamentary committee should recommend the passage of the law by removing the sections, which go against the interests of journalists. They called upon the government to consider all logical demands of journalists while passing the law.
In reaction to TIB’s comment, Hasan Mahmud said TIB’s statement is not helpful, but an obstacle. This is not an issue related to the TIB. So, their statement is not acceptable.
Mass media activists and the journalists as well have raised objections to ‘The Mass Media Employees (Services Conditions) Bill, 2022’.
Journalist leaders said the Bill goes against the interests of journalists as many existing facilities for journalists have been halved in the proposed law. If it is passed without major amendments, media workers will be deprived of much benefit.
They urged the government to drop or amend the controversial sections. Otherwise, they won’t accept the law and will start a movement across the country, they added.
Sohel Haider Chowdhury, newly elected president of Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), said that the owners of media outlets have been given various opportunities in the proposed law, while the journalists have been deprived.
Talking to Bangladesh Post, he said, “The DUJ will never accept such a law. We strongly demand amendment to the proposed law. We support our previous committee’s stance opposing the draft law.”
Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud placed ‘The Mass Media Employees (Services Conditions) Bill, 2022’ in Parliament on March 28. It was later sent to the relevant parliamentary standing committee for scrutiny. The committee was asked to submit its report within 60 days.
Journalist leaders believe that the parliamentary watchdog would recommend dropping or amending the controversial sections of the proposed law.
Dip Azad, secretary general of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), told Bangladesh Post that it would be a restrictive law. If ‘The Mass Media Employees (Services Conditions) Bill, 2022’ is passed in this way, there will be no more journalism in the country, he added.
He said that the proposed law protects the interests of owners of media outlets, while it curtails the rights and interests of journalists. The provisions of the labour laws, which are in favour of the employers as well as owners of media outlets, are kept in the proposed law. On the other hand, the provisions, which are in favour of the journalists, have not been included here. Benefits of owners have been increased and the benefits of journalists have been reduced, while the working hours of journalists have increased, he added.
The BFUJ leader said that if necessary, movement would be forged across the country. The BFUJ would discuss the issue in its meeting, he informed.
Although it was alleged that the interest of owners of media outlets is protected in the proposed law, the Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) says differently about this. NOAB wants discussions before finalising the law.
Mentioning the Digital Security Act and the proposed mass media law, AK Azad, president of NOAB and publisher of Daily Samakal, said, NOAB believes that before finalising such laws discussion with all parties concerned is important.”
According to the Mass Media Employees (Services Conditions) Bill, 2022, the journalists would be recognised in the media industry as employees or media professionals instead of workers. So, the journalists would lose privileges under the labour laws.
The wages and benefits (salaries and allowances) of journalists, employees and press workers of broadcast, online and print media outlets would be fixed under the proposed law in line with the salary scale of the government employees.
The working hours for media employees will be 48 hours a week instead of the current 36 hours. Besides, recreation leave will be 15 days instead of the current 30 days.
However, the casual leave will be 15 days and the earned leave will be 100 days annually and the maternity leave for six months in place of the existing eight weeks.
In the proposed law, gratuity is mentioned as 30 days. As per the existing labour law, the gratuity is 60 days. The proposed law mentioned that in case of retrenchment of an employee, one month’s salary has to be paid as compensation. However, the existing labour law asks for four months’ salary as compensation.
Every media house will have a provident fund which will be applicable to a new employee after one year in service instead of two years. An employee will contribute eight to 10 percent of his basic salary, currently seven percent, and an equal amount will be deposited in the fund by the owner of the media house, the proposed law stated.
The draft of the proposed law had been passed in the Cabinet on October 15 in 2018, but it was placed in Parliament this year.