Journalists threaten to agitate against Muhith over wage board comments

Leaders of rhe Dhaka Union of Journalists or DUJ have come down hard on Finance Minister AMA Muhith for his comment that journalists need no wage board.

“You (Muhith) said that a wage board for journalists is unnecessary. I don’t know why you are trying to make journalists your enemies,” said Shaban Mahmood, President of DUJ.

Journalists of different associations recently threatened to hit Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu with a boycott if their demand for the ninth wage board was not met by Aug 15.

“Now we will go against the finance minister as well. We will lay a siege to the Secretariat and demand his resignation,” Mahmood said at a seminar in Gopalganj on Tuesday.

Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, Information Affairs Adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was present there.

Journalists in Bangladesh get paid more than what civil servants do, and should therefore not have a wage board, Muhith said at a meeting with Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh or NOAB on Tuesday.

Chowdhury, also a former president of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists or BFUJ, said: “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is friendly to journalists. She has ensured freedom of the mass media, has created welfare trust for journalists.”

“We will form the ninth wage board under her leadership in no time. We do not care what others are saying,” Chowdhury said at the seminar.