The water transport workers are still continuing their countrywide strike to press home their 11-point demand although it was supposed to end on Tuesday (Apr 16) morning.
The labour leaders on Monday (Apr 15) decided call off the strike on Tuesday after a meeting with State Minister for Labour Munnujan Sufian.
However, it didn’t happen due to disagreements between the labour leaders.
Leader of Bangladesh Water Transport Workers’ Federation along with leaders who attended the meeting on Monday of will once more meet with the state minister on Tuesday.
“The government and concerned authorities didn’t take any steps although we wrote to them in September of 2018 regarding our 11-point demand,” Ashiqul Islam, a leader of the federation told Bangla Tribune.
“Hence we are being forced to go on strike,” he added.
“The honourable minister called us and we are scheduled to meet her today,” he said and added that he wasn’t present in Monday’s meeting.
Neither the state minister, nor the labour secretary could be reached for comments on why the strike wasn’t called off.
However, Jahangir Alam, Senior Information Officer of the Shipping Ministry said that there is nothing they can do about the strike.
“It’s the home ministry’s duty to monitor extortion in the naval route and the labour ministry’s job to implement the wage structure,” he told Bangla Tribune.
“They are the ones who can do anything about it,” he added.
Although launches anchored into Dhaka from different regions across the country on Tuesday, none left the terminal from Sadarghat.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Joint Director Alamgir Hossain, however, told Bangla Tribune that a Pirojpur bound launch would be leaving the terminal in the evening.
Meanwhile, Shadarghat Traffic Police Sub Inspector Dipak Kumar Shah said that a small did leave and most would depart at night.
On Tuesday (Apr 16), the water transport workers called an indefinite countrywide strike to press home their 11-point demand, leaving the passengers inconvenienced.
Their demands include: taking action against terrorism and extortion, stopping workers’ harassment, fully implementing the 2016 pay scale, providing Tk 1 million compensation for the injury of a worker, and cracking down on robbery on the river routes.