Mohammad Shah Alam has been driving buses in Dhaka for different metro services for the last fifteen years and yet he has never received an appointment letter from any of these companies.

At present he is working for the Super-Link Company on the Mirpur-Azimpur route. Gias Uddin, also without an appointment letter, has been working as a bus-helper for past 20 years for the Druti Praribahan Limited. Their workday begins at dawn and continues till midnight without any specified break times.

The well being of the transport worker is directly connected to the issue of safety on the roads observed an activist. However, their employers as well as bus owners have grossly violated the rights of the transport workers for a long time. The level of exploitation has intensified since mid eighties, observed human rights activists. Moshrefa Mishu, president of the Garment Workers Unity Forum, said ‘It’s natural that the transport workers are deprived of their lawful rights as they have to work without appointment letters.’

The working hours for the transport workers are staggeringly long, for a very poor wage. A driver has to drive the bus for over 16 hours nonstop while the conductor and helper are also on the job for the same time. The driver earns Taka 20-25 per hour while the conductor or helper gets paid at an hourly rate of Taka 10-15.

‘For a to and fro trip from Mirpur 12 to Jatrabari that takes about 3 to 5 hours, I get Taka 120, while the helper and conductor get Taka 60 each,’ said Ramiz Uddin (not his real name), a bus driver of Bikalpa Paribahan Limited. ‘While on duty, we have no opportunity to take a meal and so we buy unhygienic snacks from makeshift tea stalls whenever we are hungry.’

He further mentioned that as the bus companies usually have garages or stands only at one end of a route the drivers cannot stop to rest till the journey is completed. ‘For example, our company has stands at Mirpur but does not have a garage at Jatrabari, so whenever we stop the bus at the roadside for a snack or a wash, the traffic police threaten to seize our buses.’

Two years ago Babu was bed-ridden for three-months and his owners paid him only Taka 400. He also said that they receive a bonus of Taka 500 once a year, and only during Eid-ul-Fitr.

Aftab Alam Babu, a bus driver of a city service, said “It’s a no work no pay job. And we can work only on alternate days. And the day we sit idle we have no earnings.”

Speaking about job security Alam said, ‘There’s no such thing for us as job security. Our employers can fire us any time on any pretext, even without showing any cause whatsoever.’

He said the situation could worsen further as no rights group has taken up their issue. ‘Most of our driving licenses are faked as the Bangladesh Road and Transport Authority, which is the sole licensing authority are strict. This forces us to use fake documents,’ said Alam.

Ramiz also informed that a workers’ trade union was launched about a decade ago spearheaded by the drivers of Bikalpa Paribahan but the union became inactive as the leaders were ‘managed’ by the bus owners.

“Transport workers are unable to bring forward their issues and demands to the journalists, rights organizations, police or others concerned, as they do not hold authentic documents’ grieved Babu. He said the situation could worsen further as no rights group has taken up their issue.

In addition, no compensation is paid to transport workers if they meet with an accident. ‘The job is risky, as you can clearly see. When accidents occur we have to take the full blame and not the bus owners. We are chased by the police, lose jobs and if we are also injured or killed there is no compensation from the company,’ said Gias.

A senior official of Bikalpa Paribahan refused to talk to this reporter on the issues. Kanak Paribahan Limited director Golam Mourtaza Dulal said, ‘The working hours of our drivers and helpers are from 5:30 am to 11:30 pm and we pay them more than any company does. But Dulal refused to show any documents of payments made to the workers.

Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies Assistant Executive Director Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmmed said, “No rights organisations have so far addressed the issues of the transport workers. In the early 1980s the workers unions in this sector were very effective and powerful but most of them became inactive or were dissolved.  This is largely the handiwork of the bus owners.”

Transport workers’ rights are a major issue that needs attention. It is not only connected to their well being but also is a question of the impact of thousands of road accidents on society. Every year tragic road accidents that could have been avoided leave scores injured, crippled and killed. It is a heavy burden for the country to bear.