A Study on Labor Welfare Center and Its Implications for Labor Welfare in Selected Areas of Dhaka

Abstract

The principal objective of this study is to understand the implications of Labor Welfare Center (LWC) for workers. This research congregates and proficiently deals with legislated functions such as playground for indoor & outdoor games, night schooling, skill development and awareness training/workshops, newspaper reading, library etc. as well as the health services including prescription, medicines, first aid, elementary disease treatment even anti-biotic services of both Tejgaon and Tongi Labor Welfare Centers (LWCs) for different types of workers like factory, mills, industry and garments workers. The mainstays of this thesis are to examine the welfare services including health care services of these Labor Welfare Centers (LWCs) for workers. Drawing predominantly on Keynes theory of national welfare state and Marshall’s doctrine of social rights, this study enunciates the integration of legislated welfare services or provisions and implementation of these provisions through state or statutory agent like LWC. Findings of this study delineate that the implications of Labor Welfare Center is not at satisfactory level or so poor. The prolonged absence of doctor, medicines, recreational facilities, and effective trainings, proper health treatment even legislated welfare services divulge the vulnerability of LWC. Due to the lack of proper health treatments and other facilities, the frequency of going to outside of LWC such as govt. hospitals, LMF, quack, pharmacy sometimes private clinic for treatment is quite high which also denotes the poor implications of LWCs. Though workers are not able to bear the expanses of their health treatment but they are bound. They are also not satisfied with the existing health treatments of LWC for their specific disease and illness like cold & cough, urine infection, skin diseases, anemia, stomach pain or vomiting etc. This study also focuses the attitudes of workers towards its welfare services including health services while most of them showed negative attitude towards LWC’s welfare services for workers. It has also emphasized on some critical issues for LWC’s poor implications as well as recommendations for further improvement. Thus, this research pivotally focuses on the implications of LWC for workers through examining the functioning as well as health services of both Tejgaon and Tongi Labor Welfare Centers.