Forget calling your colleague 'tui/tumi', new law in town

If you're one to call your colleagues with a more informal "tui/tumi" in the workplace, then bad news for you. You might soon face disciplinary action for it.

The Labour Reform Commission has just proposed a few reforms to promote a fair and inclusive work environment. Among them was discouraging the use of informal pronouns like "you (tumi/tui)" in the workplace.

How do you feel about it?

Often times to increase team building or just to have a better relation with the people you spend almost half of your waking hours with you opt for endearing pronouns like tui or tumi ditching the more formal apni. Though it might seem like a small change but it really changes the way you communicate, be that for the better or for the worse.

If all goes well, it can really help create a friendly bond between colleagues which can surpass the workplace and transcend to personal lives. However, if misused, the terms can often be used in demeaning and derogatory ways.

It all depends on what kind of person you are and how you carry yourself.

However, the ambiguity can be harmful in scenarios of workplace bullying and harassment. The decision to avoid the use of "tui/tumi" in the workplace might have stemmed from that. 

Most of the recommendations of the Labour Reform Commission, like replacing gendered terminology in labour laws with more appropriate alternatives, were useful, but the one determining pronouns you can use with your colleague seems a little harsh. Then again, the number of people who can't maintain boundaries in the workplace is not that small.

Moreover, the decision was probably taken to avert people from disrespecting elders just because they might hold a senior position in the company. 

Senior officials in business institutions like factories or production houses oftentimes call their subordinates tui or tumi despite them being much older. This creates a power difference as well as can gives rise to a sense of insecurity among employees.

However, that is not the biggest headache in the workplace. There are many issues like no minimum wage, lack of accountability or proper compensation and lack of maternity leave, plaguing the workplaces in the country.

To combat the issues, yesterday (21 April), the Labour Reform Commission submitted its report to Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus.

Among the recommendations were – beginning registration of all workers and issuing them identity cards to formalise their status.

It recommended comprehensive legal protection for all workers in the country.

The commission also recommended providing all women workers with six months of fully paid maternity leave, said a press release.

Commission Chief Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, executive director of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), stated that Bangladesh currently offers one of the lowest death compensation rates for workers.

"We have proposed setting the compensation amount based on a worker's life cycle," he said at a press briefing after submitting the report.

He stated that the reform commission has prioritised 25 key recommendations, taking into account the broader context of labour issues in the country.

Among the most significant are the introduction of dignified national and sector-specific wages, easing trade union regulations to safeguard workers' freedom of expression, promoting structured industrial relations and social dialogue, ensuring a safe working environment and occupational health, and enhancing the transparency, accountability, and accessibility of labour-related government institutions.

On 17 November 2024, the interim government formed the 10-member Labour Reform Commission with Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, executive director of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), as its chief.