Water vessel workers call off strike

Water transport workers withdrew their work abstention this evening.

Unloading of bulk cargo from large vessels at the outer anchorage of Chattogram port and transport of these goods across the country have resumed after around 42 hours.

The workers called off their strike after getting assurance from a tripartite meeting that their 10-point demand, including formation of a new wage structure, would be met.

State Minister for Labour and Employment Monnujan Sufian chaired the meeting, attended by leaders of vessel owners' and workers' organisations, reports our Chattogram staff correspondent.Md Shah Alam, president of Bangladesh Water Transport Workers Federation who attended the meeting, said it was decided in the meeting that a 29-member committee, which was earlier formed by the labour department, would formulate proposals for forming new wage structure within a month.

Mentioning a decision made in the meeting, the workers' leader said until the formation of the new wage structure, the owners would pay workers an additional amount between Tk 1,200 and Tk 1,500 per month.

Their other demands including raising compensation for death, and issuance of "landing pass" for India-bound workers and others were also addressed at the meeting, he said.

Md Nabi Alam, vice president of Bangladesh Lighterage Workers Union, said the lighter vessel workers resumed work around 6:00pm.

The workers had enforced the strike from 12:01am yesterday.

A total of 35 vessels with around 7.50 lakh tonnes of imported goods were at the outer anchorage of Chattogram. Moreover, 715 lighter vessels loaded with goods were stranded across the country.