Striking waterways workers lift strike

The nearly weeklong strike by waterways workers demanding a pay hike has been withdrawn following a mammoth tripartite meeting between Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, representatives of the workers' body and the representatives of the vessel owners' association.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 26 April 2016, 08:11 PM
Updated : 26 April 2016, 08:11 PM

The meeting started at 2pm and concluded at 10pm on Tuesday.
 
Following the meeting, the workers' side decided to suspend the strike while the owners' side said that it was impossible for them to agree with the terms.
 
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Waterways Workers' Federation General Secretary Chowdhury Ashikul Alam said, "Accepting the revised pay scale for the 'b' and 'c' grades and requesting a reconsideration of the revised 'a' scale, we have decided to suspend the strike".
 
The minister said, "As per the revised pay band, workers of the ‘a' scale would get TK 10,000 while those of ‘b’ and ‘c’ would get Tk 9,000 each."
 
The decisions are, however, open to a Ministry of Labour review, he added.
 
The owners’ side have expressed displeasure and have said that it is impossible for them to operate the vessels under these conditions.
 
"We cannot accept these demands. We express our disagreement with your (minister's) decision", Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, President, Bangladesh Ship Owners Unity Council said.
 
The workers’ body had started an indefinite strike on April 20 pushing for a 15-point charter including a pay hike.
 
On Apr 22, the strike was lifted for passenger vessels but the strike on freighters continued.

The meeting with state minister for labour had failed to break the logjam on the following day.