SKOP threatens to escalate action over labour law, Chattogram Port privatisation

The platform demands immediate enactment of a new labour law based on their nine-point agenda by Aug 31

The Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP), a national platform of labourers and workers, has warned of extensive action if the lease of Chittagong Port is not cancelled and labour laws are not amended immediately.

The organisation’s Joint Coordinator Abdul Quader Howlader issued the warning during a rally held outside the Jatiya Press Club on Tuesday afternoon.

"We have only one demand - the nine points of the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad must be implemented, and a new labour law must be enacted by the 31st of August," he said.

"The report of the Labour Commission must be implemented. Chattogram Port cannot be leased, and a corridor cannot be given.

"If these demands are not met, we will be forced to announce a strict programme," he added.

Joint Coordinator Ahsan Habib Bulbul said, "If the government does not take effective steps to implement the recommendations of the Labour Reform Commission immediately, we will submit a memorandum to the labour advisor in Dhaka and deputy commissioners across the country on the 9th of September.

"If the government still does not respond, we may resort to stricter measures, including a strike.”

The rally was held to demand the implementation of their nine-point list of demands, which also includes fair wages for workers, free trade union rights, employment and social security, scrapping of temporary and outsourced workers' hiring for permanent jobs, and reopening closed factories.

Following the rally, SKOP activists held a protest march, which ended at the Paltan intersection.