River transport workers begin indefinite strike in Bangladesh

Bangladesh River Transport Workers Federation began an indefinite strike from Saturday midnight to press demands of private river vessel workers, a federation leader said.

Shah Alam, senior vice president of the federation, said that the strike had begun "as scheduled" at midnight, private news agency bdnews24.com reported on Sunday.

He said all private river vessels, for transporting passengers, goods and for fishing, would be participating in the strike. "It will continue until our demands are met," he said.

However, vessel owners said they would not bow to the strikers. One top official of the River Transport Owners Association said, "We will operate as normal in the morning."

Faruk Hossain, manager of a river launch, said, "Our launch will run despite the strike."

Mahbubur Raman, police sub-inspector at the capital Dhaka's main Sadarghat Terminal, said extra police and Rapid Action Battalion teams have been deployed in case of trouble. There had been no untoward incident as the strike began, he added.

Shah Alam said they were forced to call the strike as they did not receive any hint of a solution to problems even after setting a 15-day deadline on Oct. 21.

He said they had in fact been pressing their demands since August, which include a proper pay scale for private river workers, effective application of riverine laws and a stop to harassment and robbery on river routes.

Alam said they spoke with shipping minister Shahjahan Khan, river vessel owners and others about their demands, who all assured them of "solutions".

But he said after no sign of progress, the river workers were forced to set a 15-day deadline on Oct 21.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority director Shafiqul Haque said, "Talks have taken place more than once, but no development has yet come out."

He said he did not see any possibility that the workers would call off the strike.

There are around 125,000 water transport workers in Bangladesh.

Source:Xinhua