The Unreasonable bar on the Formation of Trade Unions

Durdana Nuzat Mahmood and Samiul Azim writes for DOT : 
The struggle for trade union rights of labors started in the 19th century when in the Europe agricultural jobs declined and employment moved towards the industrial areas. Groups such as the Tolpuddle Martyrs of Dorset were punished and transported for forming unions, which was against the laws of the time. The history of the trade union of Bangladesh could be traced back tothe mid-19th century when modern industry started to develop in the Indian Sub-continent. However, unfortunately, till now the mindset of many owners of the factory has not changed. They perceive it as an extra burden, enemy of their trade. They think that if the trade union gets the permission, then the leaders of the trade union will demand unnecessary things and sometimes failing to satisfy their demand will lead to a chaotic situation and certainly, it will lead to decreasing productivity rate.
If we investigate this matter from a very common perspective, then we can really understand that the aim of creating trade union is to remove the disparity between the owner and the labors and to establish the justifiable demand of the workers. The Industrial Relation Ordinance, 1969 was the first ordinance for registration of trade enacted in the then East Pakistan. Insection 3 of this Ordinance, there was a provision relating to trade union andfreedom of association. This law provided the guideline as to how the labors of the organization will proceed for the trade union.Currently, Section 176 of Labor Act, 2006 deals with the trade Unions of worker their guideline. Section 177 deals with the Application for registration section 178 deals with the Requirements for Application and section 178 deals with the documents to be submitted along with the application for registration.
Section 179(2)provides that “A trade union of workers shall not be entitled to registration under this chapter unless it has a minimum membership of 20 percent of the total number of workers employed in the establishment in which it is formed…Provided that where more than one establishments under the same employer, which are allied to and connected with the another for the purpose of carrying out the same industry irrespective of their place of situation, shall be deemed to be one establishment for the purpose of this sub-section.”
When we investigate this section, a question arises about the practicality of this provision as to whether due to the migration rate in the informal labor sector in our country, generalilliteracy among many of them and cannot give their sign. It has to be conceded that the requirement of twenty per cent has been lowered from 30 percent by a legislative amendment in November 2018.Since there are many owners who do not really want that there is a trade union in their company, it might be very easy for them that labours do not get to gather thetwenty percent of them to sign in the application form. Thus, they may easily obviate the intended benefit of the law from the viewpoint of workers.Thus, ideally the requirement should be lowered even further.
Lastly we would like to conclude it by saying that though we have experienced some bad events because of trade union and one of the prime example of this will be the closer of Adamjee Jute Mill in 2002 but we must remember that if we assume a worker as a single unit then he/she will havelittle bargaining power, and if they are in a group, then they can fight for their justifiable rights. But the twenty percent sign is arguably creating a loophole.