Declare nat'l minimum wage
Sramik Federation urges govt
UNB, Dhaka
Jatiya Sramik Federation Bangladesh has urged the government to immediately declare national minimum wage and rein in inflation in order to keep the prices of commodities within the purchasing capacity of workers. The call came from an extended meeting of the Federation yesterday, with its President Abul Bashar in the chair, said a press release. The Federation also called on the government to provide 10 percent allocation for the industrial sector in the coming budget to protect the interest of the workers. The meeting also criticised the government for denationalisation of the state-run enterprises as per the "dictates of the World Bank and IMF." The Federation appealed to the government not to terminate lakhs of workers engaged in bidi and tobacco industry without creating alternative employment opportunities for them. The labour leaders expressed dissatisfaction over the "indifferent attitude of the government towards the Savar garments factory building collapse in which hundreds of workers were killed". They demanded stern action against the garment owners responsible for the deaths. Federation General Secretary Shafiuddin Ahmed, Senior Vice-President Hafizur Rahman Bhuiyan, Organising Secretary Quamrul Ahsan, ATM Nizam Uddin and Mozammel Haq addressed the meeting.
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