The government yesterday urged the jute mill workers to withdraw their movement and join work from today. The call was made at a meeting between Textile and Jute Minister M Emajuddin Pramanik and the leaders of the CBAs and non-CBAs of the state-owned jute mill workers at the Secretariat, said State Minister for Textiles and Jute Mirza Azam while talking to reporters. The junior minister said the government on Monday made an allocation of Tk 1,000 crore for clearing some arrears of the workers. “A process is on to distribute the money among the workers following the approval of the Finance Ministry. I hope the approval will be given by tomorrow (Wednesday),” he said.
Besides, he said, the government has directed the Bangladesh JuteMill Corporation (BJMC) to provide two weeks’ wages to the workers and employees before Pahela Baishakah. “The rest of the arrears will be provided soon.”
Mirza Azam also warned that action will be taken against the workers as per the BJMC rules if they do not call their strike off by Wednesday following the government’s assurance of meeting their demands. Earlier, the government called the CBA and non-CBA leaders of 27 state-run jute mills to join the meeting. However, leaders of 18 CBAs took part in the meeting while those in nine jute mills, including seven in Khulna and Jessore region, did not take part in the meeting.
Although the demands of all the CBAs and non-CBAs are the same, only seven state-owned jute mills in Khulna are on the movement. Meanwhile, a scuffle took place among the 18 CBA and non-CBA leaders and those of the CBA and non-CBA Oikya Parishad of seven stated-owned jute mills of Khulna at the Secretariat during the meeting. Sohrab Hossain, convener of the CBA and non-CBA Oikya Parishad, said they will talk to the Textile and Jute Minister on Wednesday afternoon, and announced to continue the strike until the meeting is held. The CBA and non-CBA Oikya Parishad of the seven jute mills – Crescent Jute Mills, Platinum Jute Mills, Khalispur Jute Mills, Star Jute Mills, Eastern Jute Mills, Jessore Jute Mills and Carpeting Jute Mills - enforced the strike on April 4 to press home their five-point demand. Their demands include adequate allocation for the jute industry, payment of their arrears, formation of a wage board and stopping the move to privatise the state-owned jute mills.