Water transport strike

100 workers' jobs uncertain

7 June 2010, 18:00 PM

Pankaj Karmakar

Water vessels owners did not allow nearly 100 workers, who were on the front line during last month's river transport strike, to return to their work despite government directions. The main reason of not allowing the workers to rejoin the work for playing critical role during the strike, said Saha Alam, vice-president of the Bangladesh Noujan Sramik Federation, an organisation of water transport workers. However, major portion of around 2, 000 workers have already return to their work on condition of not joining any transport strike or movement in the future. During and after the strike, the shipping minister, top government officials and launch owners repeatedly called upon all the workers to join work without any fear and condition. But after more than 20 days of withdrawal of the strike, the workers could not join work, as the vessel owners remain rigid on their decision of not allowing the workers to return to work. Talking to this correspondent, most of the jobless workers alleged that the owners were continuously threatening them to harass by police or to make them jobless permanently or to cancel their certificates of competency for joining the strike. Jainal Abedin, first-class driver of MV Patarhat-5, said, “The owner of the launch has strictly forbidden him not to ride on the vessel and threatened to arrest him by police, if he tries to get into the launch.” In response to the allegations, Shabuddin Milon, owner of the MV Patarhat-5 said, “This an internal matter of my business. During the strike the workers abandoned my vessel keeping in danger. This might occur a major accident. So, those workers must be punished.” Ilias, driver of the MV New Sun, said his boss Abdus Salam had said the Launch Owner Association had directed him not to allow the workers, who were involved in enforcing the strike on May 8. Salam said, “The workers did not join by the deadline set by the shipping ministry during the strike. Moreover the BIWTA directed us not to reappoint the workers responsible for enforcing the strike.” But the BIWTA Chairman Abdul Malek Miah binned the allegations saying it is completely false and fabricated. “Rather we have requested the owners of all the launches to reappoint the workers immediately.” Mahbub Uddin Bir Bikram, chairman of the Bangladesh Inland Waterways (passenger carrier's) Association, said he does not know anything about it. The association has directed all the owners to reappoint the workers. But Ibrahim, a second-class driver of MV Sonartari owned by Mahbub Uddin, alleged that he along with some other workers of that launch could not join the work in absence of a green signal from the owner. Shipping Secretary Abdul Mannan Hawlader said, “We have directed all the vessel owners to reappoint the workers. But it may take sometime.”