The Labour Act, 2006 is a pure consolidating codified law by repealing 25 labour and industrial laws. The object of such an Act is same as was stated in Bank of England v. Vagliano, IRAC (1891) 107, referred to in Narendra Nath Sarcar v. Kamalabasini Dasi, ILR 23 Cal. 563 (PC) to the effect– “on any point specifically dealt with by an Act, the law should be ascertained by interpreting its language, instead of, as before, roaming over a vast number of authorities to discover what the law is, and extracting it by a critical examination of the prior decisions”. The advantage of consolidation of the provisions scattered over in the repealing enactments are now contained in one Act, and one Act only, namely, Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006. In fact, after consolidation and incorporation of some new elaborate provisions and wide empowerment of Labour Court and transparent provision of appeal, the Act has become the most coherent and beneficial law. After enactment, the Act has been amended thrice: Firsty, by the Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Act, 2009; Secondly, by the Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Act, 2010; and Thirdy, by the Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Act, 2013. Out of the three, the first amending Act has added a new section 185A, substituted section 243, abolished Chapter XVI (Safety and Control of Employment of Dock Workers), added Chapter XVIA anew and made a few changes in Section 306 and 307. The second amending Act has made some change in section 28 determining the retirement age at 60 years. The third amending Act has made huge substantial changes providing some important rights and facilities to the workers which, in fact, were given on the demands made by national and international labour organisations, right groups, some donor countries and some importers of garments after the fire incidences with Tazreen Fashions in 2012 and Rana Plaza in 2013. All the amendments have been included in this treatise by necessary foot notes. Of course, the foot notes have been given only in Bangla for obvious reason as this book contains both versions of Bangla and Authentic English Text of the Act.

We have a good number of decisions of our Supreme Court on the previous labour and industrial laws and in order to follow them, the provisions of the corresponding repealed Acts and Ordinances have been mentioned under every section of the present Act. India is a vast country having huge industries and establishments and obviously the Indian Supreme Court and High Courts have produced huge decisions on the labour and industrial laws. Therefore, the relevant and important decisions of Indian jurisdiction have been discussed in this book as ready reference.

The decisions of the Superior Courts have been discussed and mentioned with necessary topical headings and some of them elaborately, so that any reader can easily find out the necessary appropriate decision readily with a clear conception thereon.

Very recently, the Bangladesh Labour Rules, 2015 have been made and published. The two connected Acts namely, Bangladesh Workers’ Welfare Foundation Act, 2006 and EPZ Workers’ Welfare Association and Industrial Relations Act, 2010 and Rules made under the former are included in this treatise for their best use by the valued readers.