Bus services on the Dhaka-Chittagong route from Rajshahi have resumed on Tuesday after 36 hours.
The owners have accepted the workers’ demands. Bus services resumed from 5pm. Earlier, workers had stopped bus services from 5am on Monday
Previously, on September 8 and 9, workers had observed a continuous 39-hour strike. At that time, bus services resumed following the owners’ assurance of salary increases. As the demands were not met, they started the strike on September 22.
The acceptance of the workers’ demands has been confirmed by Bazlur Rahman Ratan, proprietor of Desh Travels and Vice President of Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners Association. He said that a meeting was held in Dhaka around 3pm with representatives of the protesting workers. Other operators’ owners were present at the meeting.
The workers’ statements were heard. The salary and allowance demands, similar to those of Ekota Transport, were accepted. Now each driver will receive a salary of Tk1,750. Additionally, the salaries of supervisors and helpers have been increased. After accepting the demands, bus services from Rajshahi have resumed.
From Monday morning, bus services on the Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi, Natore, Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, and Cox’s Bazar routes, operated by Desh Travels, National Travels, Grameen Travels, Hanif, and Hanif KTC, had been stopped. During this time, only Ekota Transport was operating.
Earlier, workers stated that on the Chapainawabganj-Dhaka route, a driver receives Tk1,350 as wages, a supervisor Tk570 , and a helper Tk530. In the past 15 years, except for Ekota, no other transport workers received any wage increase.
Therefore, to demand a wage increase, drivers, helpers, and supervisors observed a strike by stopping bus services on September 8 and 9. Although assurances of wage increases were given then, they were not implemented later.
