Water transport workers plan strike from Tuesday for wage hike

Water transport workers are likely to go on an indefinite countrywide strike from Tuesday midnight to press home their 15-point demand including a wage hike.

The official announcement will come today, said leaders of Bangladesh Noujan Sramik Federation.

"We want the government to fix Tk 10,000 as the minimum wage for water transport workers," said the federation general secretary, Chowdhury Ashiqul Alam. The minimum wage is Tk 4,150 now, he said. "Despite repeated discussions and requests, the government is not showing enough interest to increase wage," Ashiqul Alam told The Daily Star. Other demands include ensuring security in waterways and maintaining navigability.