Leaders of the Bangladeshi Employers’ Association (BEA) Tuesday revealed that they were going to initiate talks with major political parties to persuade them to take a firm stand against the threatened 72-hour strike called by the SKOP later this mouth.

In an interview to The Daily Star. BEA president M Anis ud-Dowla made a strong plea to -de-pollticise" the move made by the Sramlk

Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP).

Terming it as a coercive move, he said “Coercion has no place in industrial relations and trade unionism.’

Earlier last month, the SKOP called for a 72-hour nationwide industrial strike starting May 11 to press home the demand for announcing the Wages Commission award fixing the national minimum wage at Taka 1400 per month.

Many industries are Ju»t not in a position to absorb further wage increase*, the BEA president said, and introduction of national minimum wages would force the closure of a large number of industrial units.

He added that attempts to force issues would neither benefit the workers nor help the causes of those who are waiting for employment opportunities. "Moreover, unless you back up the economic side of wage determination with production there will be Infia tion."

The BEA president was as sisted during the interview by the Secretary General of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI). C K Hyder, and for mer MCCI president Syed Manzur Elahi.

Dowla noted the formation of a committee with the con sent of the SKOP —the tripartite National Consultative Committee on Labour Matters — to discuss how wage increases can be linked to productivity improvement.

"It is only fair to expect that the SKOP will not try to force their demand* pending outcome of the efforts of the tripartite committee to find some decision on the linkage issue." he pointed out.

Asked if the BEA is going to Initiate talks with the political parties. Dowla replied: "Wc have talked to them in the past and we will talk to them again" to persuade them not to lend support to any coercive attempts in the collective bargaining process.

The BEA leaders are likely to meet with leaders of the government and major political parties starting from to-day.

Referring to the government agreements with the SKOP the Employers' Association president said there was no Justification for the government's 7-point agreement with the SKOP last

Saying that the agreement was hastily done, he added "It gave a wrong signal to the SKOP and there was inadequate consideration of th* financial costs involved."

Replying to a question, the IjEA president expressed his satisfaction at the recent government attempt to reform labour laws with the formation of the Ijibour Law Commission headed by Justice Abdul Quddus Choudhury. Fifteen representatives of BEA are also Included in the commission.

"The commission is working fairly well and is on the right track." he said.

Meanwhile, in a press release issued yesterday, the BEA appealed to all political parties to withhold support to the coercive attempts by the SKOP.

The statement pointed out that the SKOP demands should be placed before the tripartite committee instead of forcing issues through strikes or othermeans not recognised by law.

"Wages are something which cannot be determined at the government Secretariat nor through promises at political conventions, nor through announcements at public meetings, they can only be settled through negotiations." the BEA release added.

The statement noted that real wages In the manufacturing sector increased by an average of 4.4 per cent per annum during the last decade while per capita Income rose by only two per cent in the same period.

The BEA recognise and respects the rights of the workers, the statement said, and it expects that the rights of the employers as well as those of the citizens would be recognised by the SKOP.

The statement also noted that the government of India. In its new wage policy, has decided to link wages of public sector enterprises to the financial performance of the units and clearly ruled out wage hikes in the loss-making public sector industrial units.