Chattogram fertiliser factory workers protest, demand ‘one corporation, one pay scale’
The workers demanded that all wage-scale employees, including operators and technicians, be brought under the national pay scale to end what they termed “systemic discrimination”
Workers of Chattogram Urea Fertiliser Limited (CUFL), a KPI-1(a) category enterprise under the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) and the Ministry of Industries, staged a protest and gate meeting yesterday (13 August), calling for the removal of long-standing disparities in pay and incentives between different categories of employees.
According to the protesters, while all officers and staff in government and autonomous institutions are covered by the national pay scale or its equivalent, BCIC maintains two separate pay structures. Officers receive the national pay scale, but skilled operators and technicians – the core workforce keeping factories operational – are still paid under what they described as a "discriminatory" wage scale.
This difference, they said, excludes them from government-announced incentives and allowances.
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The workers demanded that all wage-scale employees, including operators and technicians, be brought under the national pay scale to end what they termed "systemic discrimination."
They also pressed for payment of a pending 5% incentive announced by a previous government, inclusion in the current 15% special allowance – both of which they were excluded from – and the resumption of promotions halted for nearly three years.
Other demands include higher grades after 10 years in the same post, lump-sum encashment of 18 months' accumulated leave upon retirement, uninterrupted gas supply, and speedy implementation of a Development Project Proposal to restore production capacity for the next 10–15 years, improve efficiency, cut costs and pollution, and reduce reliance on urea imports.
The workers warned that delays in meeting these "just and logical" demands would deepen unrest within BCIC's wage-scale workforce.
The protest and gate meeting was presided over by Md Sayed Aslam Ali. It was addressed by Md Nowshad Arman Sakib, Humaiun Kabir, Yousuf Alam Khan, Mahmududl Hasan Dalim, Anisur Rahman, Faridul Alam Chowdhury and B Robiul Islam Khan, among others.
