Chattogram Port workers to resume indefinite strike tomorrow after 2-day pause
The fresh strike follows six consecutive days of work abstention by port workers last week in protest against the decision to hand over NCT operations to DP World.
Highlights:
- Ctg Port workers, employees call indefinite strike from 8am tomorrow
- Chattogram Bandar Rokkha Sangram Parishad makes announces protest, pressing 4 demands
- Fresh strike follows 6 consecutive days of work abstention last week
- After meeting with shipping adviser on Thursday, council announced 2-day suspension of work stoppage
- Workers began their movement on 31 January
Workers and employees at Chattogram Port have called an indefinite strike from 8am tomorrow (8 February), after a two-day pause, escalating protests over the government's move to lease out the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) to the UAE-based DP World.
The programme was announced this afternoon (7 February) by the Chattogram Bandar Rokkha Sangram Parishad, which is pressing four demands, chief among them a clear government declaration that the NCT will not be leased to DP World.
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Other demands include withdrawal of all disciplinary actions taken against protesting workers, assurance that no legal action will be pursued against them, and the removal of the port chairman.
The strike was announced at a press conference at the Chattogram Press Club, where council leader Humayun Kabir read out a written statement.
Announcing the programme, coordinator Ibrahim Khokon said the shipping adviser had assured the protesters during a meeting on Thursday (5 February) that their demands would be addressed, but no steps had been taken.
"Instead of resolving the crisis, the port chairman is creating instability to derail the upcoming election," Khokon said. "He must be removed and questioned under the law."
Council leaders also said that while operations at the port's outer anchorage had so far remained outside the scope of the work stoppage, work there would also remain suspended from tomorrow under the indefinite strike.
The fresh strike follows six consecutive days of work abstention by port workers last week in protest against the decision to hand over NCT operations to DP World. The stoppage had brought import and export cargo handling to a halt.
After a meeting with Shipping Adviser M Sakhawat Hussain on Thursday afternoon, the council announced a two-day suspension of the work stoppage.
However, within hours of that meeting, the port authority sent letters to different government offices seeking probes into corruption allegations against protest leaders and imposing travel bans on them, according to labour leaders.
Amid resistance by the protesters, operations at the port's three key facilities – the New Mooring Container Terminal, Chittagong Container Terminal (CCT) and the General Cargo Berth (GCB) – have remained completely shut since Tuesday (3 February).
Workers began their movement on 31 January, initially observing eight-hour work stoppages for the first three days before switching to an indefinite programme on Tuesday.
Chattogram Port handles about 91% of the country's total exports.
With operations disrupted for six straight days, concerns are growing over heavy losses in the export sector.
Port users and business leaders have also warned that prolonged disruption could affect the supply of imported goods ahead of Ramadan, increasing pressure at the consumer level.
In an attempt to defuse the crisis, Shipping Adviser Sakhawat visited the port on Thursday.
At around 10:40am, he faced angry protests from workers as he got down from his vehicle near Gate No 4 of the port complex.
Later, he held a meeting with labour leaders at Bandar Bhaban in the afternoon.
Following the meeting, workers suspended their work stoppage for two days.
SKOP backs indefinite strike
The Chattogram Sramik-Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP) announced full support for the indefinite strike called by the council, saying the protest is justified, timely and rooted in national interest.
In a statement issued this afternoon, SKOP said the movement aims to protect Chattogram Port, described as the lifeline of the national economy, and its most critical facility, NCT.
The statement was signed by a broad cross-section of labour leaders, including AM Nazim Uddin and Kazi Sheikh Nurullah Bahar of the Sramik Dal Chattogram divisional committee; Tapan Dutta, member of the Labour Reform Commission and president of the Trade Union Centre (TUC) Chattogram district unit; SKOP Chattogram coordinators SK Khoda Tutan and Iftekhar Kamal Khan; Trade Union Sangha President Khorshedul Alam; Socialist Workers Front leader Helal Uddin Kabir; and Bangladesh Jatiya Sramik Federation General Secretary Jahed Uddin Shahin, among others.
The leaders said they had expected a constructive initiative to resolve the crisis peacefully when the shipping adviser visited Chattogram. Instead, they alleged, his post-meeting briefing to journalists had signalled a "hard-line" approach that further escalated tensions.
They said that, following his instructions, travel bans had been imposed on movement leaders Ibrahim Khokon and Humayun Kabir, along with 15 other officers and employees, and that steps had been taken to investigate their assets. SKOP described these actions as retaliatory and provocative.
According to the statement, attempts to suppress what it called the legitimate demands of workers and a movement to protect national interests ran contrary to democratic norms.
SKOP leaders also took issue with remarks made by the shipping adviser during his media briefing, particularly his statement that "the contract will happen, no one can stop it."
They said such comments raised serious questions about whether public opinion, workers' concerns, and issues of national security and sovereignty were being ignored. The remarks, they argued, suggested that the government was rushing to complete the NCT leasing process under pressure from undisclosed quarters.
SKOP demanded that the interim government immediately step back from the NCT leasing process and initiate open dialogue with worker representatives to find a transparent, accountable solution aligned with national interests.
Otherwise, the statement warned, any disruption, losses or paralysis affecting the economy, trade and public life as a result of the indefinite strike from tomorrow would rest entirely with the port authority and the shipping adviser.
The organisation also called on workers, professionals, political parties and conscious citizens across the country to express solidarity with the movement to protect national interests and sovereignty.
