Journalists, media professionals demand Ninth Wage Board before Eid

Journalists and media professionals have demanded the formation of the Ninth Wage Board before the Eid-ul-Fitr.

Sangbadik Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad organised a rally on the National Press Club premises on Monday to press for the demand.

The speakers there also demanded salary and festival allowance cleared within June.

The Eid will be celebrated on July 6, subject to the sighting of the moon.

Bangladesh Federal Union of Newspaper Press Workers President Alamgir Hossain chaired the rally. Former president of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul was the chief guest.

The speakers said journalists, and employees of media and other private organisations are being deprived of the pay they deserved and are losing jobs even though the salary of the government officials and employees has been hiked.

BFUJ General Secretary Omar Faruq said journalists’ salary was almost equal to that of public servants when the Fifth Wage Board was announced.

“But the discrepancies started after that.”

BFUJ leader Madhusudan Mandal demanded the new wage board before the Eid.

Former BFUJ president Bulbul urged the media owners not to harass and sack journalists.

The government cleared the Eighth National Pay Scale with minimum Tk 8,250 and maximum Tk 78,000 salary for public servants last year.

New pay scale for the armed forces was also set in keeping with the public servants’ pay. The government is also paying the teachers of educational institutions under Monthly Payment Order (MPO) programme in line with the new pay scale.

Since the government made these changes, the journalists’ organisations have been demanding formulation of the Ninth Wage Board.

Several ministers have also expressed solidarity with the journalists’ demand.

The Eighth Wage Board, with an interim dearness allowance of 50 percent of the basic salary, was announced in 2012.