Water transport workers call off strike on pay hike decision

Water transport workers yesterday called off their countrywide strike following a decision on increasing their base salary until the pay issue is settled.

At a tripartite meeting of the government, the workers and the water transport owners, it was decided that launch workers will get Tk1,200 and cargo ship workers Tk1,000-1,500 as an additional salary from this month.

Md Shah Alam Bhuiyan, president of the Bangladesh Noujan Sramik Federation, "We are withdrawing the strike on the assurance to form a committee to determine a wage structure for the workers and on the hope that steps to resolving other issues will be taken within a month."

The workers went on work abstention on Saturday night to press home their 10-point demand, including setting their minimum wage at Tk20,000.

Due to the strike, some 16 lakh tonnes of imported goods – 7.9 lakh tonnes on 35 mother vessels and 9.5 lakh tonnes on 2,593 lighter vessels – got stuck near the Chattogram Port, the gateway of the country's foreign trade, according to the Bangladesh Shipping Agents' Association.

Importers incurred over Tk40 crore in the two day strike, they said.

Chattogram Port Secretary Md Omar Faruqe yesterday told The Business Standard that goods release was halted completely due to the strike, which caused losses for traders, ship owners and the port authorities. "The additional freight charges for the strike-induced delay, however, will be put on the end consumers," he added. 

SM Anamul Haque,  executive director of Bencon Sea Transport that is responsible for releasing goods from the Meghna Sun mother vessel, told TBS, "Our ship anchored on Friday and we were supposed to release goods on Saturday. Due to the strike, the ship returned from the outer anchorage which caused us a loss of $56,000 in the name of additional freight charge.

"The situation was the same for four ships of Akij Group. It had to incur $25,000 per day for each ship."

In addition, hundreds of passenger-carrying launches across the country also lost Tk80,000 to Tk2,00,000 each due to the two-day strike. 

In the meantime, water transport owners, after the strike withdrawal, expressed their unhappiness over the decision.

The owners said the strike has increased the losses of passenger and cargo ship operators. They first experienced losses after the opening of the Padma Bride in June and then the fuel price hike in August this year.

"The strike was nothing but increasing our losses. We are being compelled to pay the extra salary in a crisis moment of our business. We already pay them a decent salary," said Saidur Rahman Rintu, vice president of the Bangladesh Inland Waterways Passengers Carrier Association.

"Depending on their positions, each staff receives between Tk8,000 and Tk22,000 salary per month as well as several other allowances amounting to a minimum of Tk10,000-Tk12,000. It will be a burden for us to pay extra salary right now," he added.

Workers were on strike but they must be paid at the end of the month and, on average, an owner will have to spend around Tk50-Tk75 lakh per month on salary alone, Rintu said.

Lokkhon Chandra Dar, former chairman of the Coastal Ship Owners Association, said more than 2,000 registered ships were operating in the country. The number has now come down to below 1,850 as doing business has become tough for the last two years.

"Further, the condition has become so harder that we have been incurring losses for months. At this time, it is unacceptable to increase salary," he added.

Due to their movement and the non-cooperation of the government, the sector may be destroyed, he said. "The workers should understand that."

"We also want a better life for workers with good salaries but we have no ability at this moment," he added.

Workers' other demands include the provision of providing appointment letters, identity cards and service books, setting up a contributory provident fund and seamen welfare fund to ensure social security with food and sea allowances and providing Tk10 lakh as compensation for accidents and deaths at work.