workers
May Day observed in Bangladesh
May Day was observed in Bangladesh on Sunday as elsewhere across the world with due respect.
This year, the theme for this historic day in Bangladesh was "Sramik-Malik Ekota, Unnoyoner Nischoyota'' (roughly translated reads: Workers-owners unity, assurance of development).May Day, also known as the International Workers' Solidarity Day, commemorates the historic uprising of working people in the US city of Chicago at the height of a prolonged fight for an eight-hour workday in the late nineteenth century.Officials of the Ministry of Labour and Employment and leaders of different labour unions placed wreaths at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s portrait led by State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Monnujan Sufian in observance of the day.
Also read: May Day: Solidarity & empathy in times of CovidMonnujan Sufian said, “Bangabandhu was vocal for ensuring the rights of working people and fought for their rights throughout his life. In May ,1972 he recognized May Day as the National Solidarity Day.”
Raise your voice to restore lost rights: Fakhrul to workers
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday urged the workers to be vocal on the streets as they are being deprived of their justified rights.
“The government, which usurped power illegally, has snatched the rights of all people, including the working class. You now can’t hold a rally and form unions if you wish. The workers are being deprived of their justified rights” he said.
Speaking at a rally in front of BNP’s Nayapaltan central office, he called upon the workers to strengthen their organisations and organise all the working-class people to get rid of the current situation in the country.
Also read: Families of enforced disappearance victims in serious strife: BNP
“Workers have always brought changes in the country. The workers led all our glorious movements in the past. So, you have to organise people and raise voice on the streets to restore your lost rights and defeat the fascist regime," the BNP leader said.
Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal brought out the rally, marking the May Day.
Narrating how the country’s people are going through immense sufferings due to the misrule of the government, Fakhrul called upon the workers to put in their best efforts to force Awami League to quit by handing over power to a non-party neutral administration. “We have to move forward in unison and we must succeed.”
He said the workers are struggling to make ends meet because of the skyrocketing prices of all essential items, including rice and oil. “But the government is least bothered about it. "They can't provide the workers with rice, pulses and oil at a fair price.”
The BNP leader said the workers cannot receive free treatment while their children are being deprived of education. “The working-class people of this country are being deprived of everything. The government talks about big mega projects and mega development, but they have done nothing for the workers. ”He said the government has filed ‘false’ cases against 35 lakh BNP leaders and activists, including many workers. “Our over 600 leaders and activists were made disappeared while more than 1,000 others were killed. “This situation cannot be allowed to continue."
Also read: Unilateral announcement of SCBA results a “terrible injustice’: FakhrulFakhrul alleged that the ruling party leaders are making their second homes in different countries by 'looting' money from different mega projects.He said the Awami League government has got isolated as people completely rejected them. “It (govt) has no relation with the working class. It has snatched all rights of people. This government has become completely dependent on others as it is turning the country into a failed state.”
2 workers killed in Rangamati landslide
Two workers were killed in a landslide at Betbunia Manaipara in Kawkhali upazila of Rangamati district on Friday.
The deceased were identified as Peyar Mohammad, 50, son of Kabir Ahmed Mistri and Sufol Barua, 38, son of Anjan Barua of Kawkhali Upazila in the district.
Also read: 3 children killed in Moulvibazar landslide
SS Shahidul Islam, sun-inspector of Kawkhali Police Station, said two construction workers were erecting a concrete wall in a house of Sadhan Barua, a teacher of a local Government Primary School, on Friday morning.
Suddenly, a big chunk of mud from an adjacent hill fell on them, leaving the two workers dead on the spot.
On information, a team of police rushed to the spot and recovered the bodies.
Also read: Landslides hit Chattogram, no casualties reported
Protest in India's capital on 2nd day of nationwide strike
Hundreds of workers marched with the red flags of the labor unions and chanted anti-government slogans in India’s capital on Tuesday as part of a two-day nationwide strike that began Monday.
The demonstration was held at Jantar Mantar, an area of New Delhi close to Parliament that is often used for protests. Protesters said economic policies under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government were hurting workers and the country's vast unorganized sector.
“Modi government has only one point, that it wants to hide its economic criminality under the garb of communalism and religion,” said Swadesh Dev Roye, a top official with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions.
Read: Indian LOC: Fund disbursement nearly doubles in one year
About a dozen labor unions that organized the strike want the government to provide universal social security coverage for workers in the vast unorganized sector, hike the minimum wage under a flagship employment guarantee program and scrap a new labor law that gives employers greater leeway in setting wages and working hours. The demonstrators included contract health workers who wore protective robes and demanded increased wages and regulation of their services.
Strikers are also demanding that the government halt plans of privatization of some public-sector banks and the sale of public assets.
Modi’s government says privatizing some state-owned banks would overhaul the banking industry and that asset sales would help raise money to spur economic growth.
The two-day strike was felt nationwide, and essential services related to banking, transportation, railways and electricity were impacted in several states.
Read:After 2 years, India resumes int'l flights
Elsewhere in the country, protests were held in eastern West Bengal state where demonstrators stopped trains at several locations. In southern Kerala, where the state government led by the opposition Communist Party of India backed the protest, streets were empty and shops shuttered.
India’s economy has bounced back after experiencing a major blow during the first two years of the pandemic. But many jobs have disappeared, with unemployment rising to 8% in December.
Greece to take 4,000 Bangladeshi workers every year: MoU
Greece is keen to take 4000 workers from Bangladesh every year, said Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry on Wednesday.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Bangladesh and Greece in this regard at Prabashi Kalyan Bhaban on Wednesday noon.
Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed and Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum, Panagiotis Mitarachi signed the MoU on behalf of their governments.
According to the MoU, Greece will import Bangladeshi workers and will consider legalising the stay of Bangladeshis working there illegally.
READ: Another 98 Bangladeshi workers leave for S Korea
Under the MoU, 4000 Bangladeshi workers will get a chance to go to Greece every year and the government of Greece will provide a temporary work permit for five years.
They will take seasonal workers under agriculture sector now and more will be taken gradually in other sectors after discussion between the two countries.
All the Bangladeshi workers, who will get work permit, have to return to Bangladesh after expire of five-year permit.
“This is the first ever MoU with any European country and through it Bangladeshi workers will work in Greece legally,” said the Minister.
Another 98 Bangladeshi workers leave for S Korea
A total of 339 Bangladeshi workers have left for South Korea since December, 2021.
On Wednesday, 98 Bangladeshi workers left for South Korea from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport via chartered flights operated by a Korean air company.
It was the second batch of Bangladeshi expatriate workers going to Korea this year after the 92 workers on 5th January.
READ: Oman envoy praises Bangladeshi workers for contribution to economic development of Oman
According to the Bangladesh Bank, the remittance inflow from the Bangladesh workers in Korea has been continuously increasing in recent years from US$ 80.65 million in FY 2016/17 to US$ 209.16 million in FY 2020/21.
The South Korean Government suspended accepting foreign workers in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed receiving the expatriates from December 2021.
After the resumption, so far, a total of 339 Bangladesh expatriate workers have traveled to Korea; 111 in December 2021, 130 in January, 2022 and 98 in February 2022, said the South Korean Embassy in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Originally 108 workers were supposed to depart, but 10 workers who were found COVID-19 positive in the PCR test could not join this time.
Among the 98 workers, 34 workers were newly employed while the rest of them, 64 were re-entry workers.
Another batch of 130 Bangladesh workers will be sent to Korea in mid-February.
South Korea has been admitting medium and low-skilled foreign workers from 16 countries including Bangladesh through the EPS (Employment Permit System) program.
Due to the unprecedented and prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, however, the Korean Government suspended receiving EPS workers.
Accommodating continuous requests from the sending countries as well as from the employers, the Korean Government decided to lift the suspension from November last year in a limited scope and phased manner with strict COVID-19 protective measures including quarantines.
So far, more than 20,000 Bangladesh workers have been dispatched to Korea through the EPS system.
Kushtia bidi workers, tobacco growers urge to reduce tax on bidi
Bidi workers and tobacco farmers of Kushtia have urged the government to reduce taxes on bidi and fix fair prices.Bidi workers and tobacco farmers of Kushtia held a human chain in front of the deputy commissioner's office in Kushtia on Wednesday to press home a 5-point charter of demands.Tobacco is used in the bidi industry but due to conspiracies hatched by foreign multinational tobacco companies the government has imposed high taxes on bidi, forcing the factories to close down, workers said, adding because bidi factories are closing down, tobacco farmers are not being able to sell their produce.
READ: Drowning in debt, govt school principal ends life in Kushtia
Due to the increase in tariffs on bidis, unscrupulous traders are marketing bidis with fake band-rolls to evade tax. As a result, the government is being deprived of a huge amount of revenue.The five demands are: bidi workers should have to work for six days a week, tax levied on bidi should be reduced, the 10 percent advance income tax imposed on the bidi industry should be withdrawn, fair price should be fixed for tobacco, and factories of counterfeit bidi should be busted.The speakers further said that tobacco farmers are becoming helpless due to the aggression of foreign multinational companies. Held hostage by the foreign companies, farmers are being deprived of a fair price for tobacco. As a result, thousands of tobacco farmers and traders are suffering financially and they are in dire straits with their families.The speakers called upon the government to address the problems of tobacco growers and bidi workers.
READ: Missing youth found dead in Kushtia
Golam Mostafa, labour affairs secretary of the Kushtia district of the Awami League, was the chief guest at the protest programme, chaired by Md Nazim Uddin, general secretary of Kushtia Zilla Bidi Sangram Parishad and vice-president of Bangladesh Bidi Workers Federation. Workers' leader Tarun Sheikh moderated the event.
Probe body formed over Bogura factory fire
A four-member committee was formed on Wednesday to investigate the fire that killed five workers at a plastic factory at Santahar in Adamdighi upazila of Bogura district.
The committee, headed by Additional District Magistrate Salahuddin, has been asked to submit its report within seven working days.
Read: Five burned to death in Bogura factory fire
The other members of the committee are—Adamdighi Upazila Nirbahi Officer, the representatives of the Department of Inspection for Factories and the Directorate of Fire Service and Civil Defense.
Also on Wednesday the charred bodies of five workers, recovered from the factory, were handed over to the family members.
Read:Fire spreads panic in CCU patients at Barishal hospital; 1 dies of heart attack
The fire occurred on Tuesday.
The deceased were identified as Siam, 13, Shahjahan, 24, Bijoy, 14, Belal Hossain, 43 and Abdul Khalek, 35 of the upazila.
Five burned to death in Bogura factory fire
Five workers were killed as a fire broke out in a plastic factory at Santahar in Adamdighi upazila of Bogura district on Tuesday.
The identities of the deceased could not yet be known.
Read:Fire breaks out at Segunbagicha highrise
Abdul Malek, assistant director of Fire Service and Civil Defence, Bogura, said the fire broke out at BIRS Plastic Industry Limited, owned by Santahar municipality mayor Tofazzal Hossain Bhutto, around 11:30 am and it spread around soon.
On information, 13 firefighting units rushed to the spot and extinguished the blaze around 2 pm.
Australia to welcome vaccinated foreign students, workers
The Australian government expects 200,000 vaccinated foreign students and skilled workers will soon return without quarantining when the country further relaxes pandemic restrictions next week.
From Dec. 1, students, skilled workers and travelers on working vacations will be allowed to land at Sydney and Melbourne airports without needing to seek exemptions from a travel ban, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Monday.
“The return of skilled workers and students to Australia is a major milestone in our pathway back, it’s a major milestone about what Australians have been able to achieve and enable us to do,” Morrison said.
The government expects 200,000 arrivals in the two categories by January, he said.
Vaccinated citizens of Japan and South Korea will also be allowed in without quarantining, as well as people on humanitarian visas.
But the government has yet to decide when general tourists will be allowed to return.
Read: Global Covid cases near 258 million amid vaccination
“I think Australians are very keen to see us take this step-by-step approach,” Morrison said.
“They’ve been through a lot and they’ve sacrificed a lot to ensure that we can open safely so we can stay safely open,” he added.
While vaccinated travelers will be able to arrive without quarantining in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia’s most populous states, parts of the country with lower vaccination rates still impose pandemic restrictions at state lines.
After a troubled and faltering start, Australia’s vaccine rollout has gathered pace. More than 85% of the population aged 16 and older is now fully vaccinated.
Australia first reopened its border to quarantine-free travelers on Nov. 1 after 20 months of some of the most draconian pandemic restrictions adopted by any democratic country. Arrivals were first restricted to Australian citizens and permanent residents.
The first flights in an Australia-Singapore quarantine-free travel bubble began on Sunday.
Some Australian farmers have left fruit and vegetables to rot in fields because the backpackers who provide the seasonal workforce of pickers have been absent.
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The backpackers were some of Australia’s highest yielding visitors, spending 3.2 billion Australian dollars ($2.3 billion) a year before the pandemic. They also made up a substantial part of the seasonal workforce, Business Group Australia executive director John Hart said in a statement.
Universities Australia chief executive Catrina Jackson said her sector lost AU$1.8 billion ($1.3 billion) last year because foreign students were locked out.
“We’ve got 130,000 students waiting to get back into this country. They’ve been so patient and they’ve been so resolute. They’ve been studying online for ... almost two years now,” Jackson told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“Some of them have just got a year left of their degree. It really is time to get them back into the country so they can finish their degree and get on with their lives,” Jackson said.