Dhaka, June 12 -- Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, head of the Labour Reform Commission, believes Bangladesh must outgrow its dependence on cheap labour and low-cost goods if it is to become a developed and dignified nation.

Building a just and equitable society is not possible without ensuring minimum protections for workers, according to him. To that end, he called for the formation of a permanent wage commission.

He also lamented the "disregard" and "indifference" demonstrated once again by policymakers towards working people in the proposed budget for the upcoming 2025-26 fiscal year.

Sultan, who is the Executive Director of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) and a workers' rights expert at the International Labour Organizat...