Jatiotabadi Sramik Dal (BNP-affiliated labour wing) will hold a labour rally on Thursday at 2pm in front of the BNP’s central office in Naya Paltan, Dhaka, to press home their 12-point demand.
BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi shared these details at a press conference held Wednesday at the party’s central office.
According to Rizvi, BNP’s Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman will join the event virtually from London and deliver the keynote speech. Other prominent BNP leaders, including Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Standing Committee members Mirza Abbas, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, and Nazrul Islam Khan, are also scheduled to speak.
Rizvi said: “We have informed the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner about the rally. Leaflets outlining the 12-point demand are being distributed throughout the capital by the Sramik Dal, and publicity activities are ongoing, including banners and festoons.”
He added: “Workers from Dhaka and surrounding industrial areas are expected to participate in the rally.”
Highlighting the lack of economic and social security for workers, Rizvi said: “The income of working people is steadily decreasing. Many factories are shutting down due to gas and electricity shortages.”
He added: “Every day, thousands of workers are being laid off and becoming unemployed. Workers are facing serious hardship just to survive.”
He further said: “During the previous fascist regime, workers were denied the right to organize and form independent trade unions. The Essential Services Act 2023 has now legally stripped workers and employees of the right to raise their demands.”
Rizvi said the rally will serve as a platform for the BNP to voice the demands of the working class.
Present at the press conference were Sramik Dal’s Chief Coordinator Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas, President Anwar Hossain, BNP Publicity Secretary Sultan Salahuddin Tuku, and other central leaders of the Sramik Dal.