Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) on Wednesday demanded immediate announcement of the 10th Wage Board award for media professionals along with an interim dearness allowance.
BFUJ President Obaidur Rahman Shaheen, its Secretary General Kader Gani Chowdhury, DUJ President Md Shahidul Islam and its General Secretary Khurshid Alam issued a joint statement in this regard.
They also urged the government to ensure implementation of the 9th Wage Board award including arrears in media houses where it has yet to be enforced.
Soaring prices of essential commodities, rising house rents and increasing daily expenses have made life extremely difficult for journalists like general people, said the statement.
Although the 9th Wage Board was announced nearly a decade ago, many media houses have yet not implemented it through various tactics, it said.
The journalists have long been facing discrimination and have repeatedly demanded the announcement f the 10th Wage Board but the then ‘fallen fascist government’ ignored the issue repeatedly, said the statement.
Even after the change in power following the July–August 2024 mass uprising, the interim government has failed to take any effective steps over the past one and a half years, it said.
The journalist leaders also criticised for not forming a Wage Board implementation committee for journalists.
Expressing frustration, the journalist leaders said that despite claiming to be media-friendly, the interim government led by Professor Dr Yunus has not taken a single visible step for journalists’ welfare so far.
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The leaders pointed out that until the 4th Wage Board award, journalists’ pay and benefits were better than those of government employees, considering the demanding and risky nature of their work.
They alleged that later, bureaucrats manipulated policies to repeatedly increase their own benefits, leaving journalists often referred to as the fourth pillar of the state neglected, said the statement.
They also demanded measures to ensure regular payment of salaries and allowances to journalists.