Leaders of the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP), a platform of over a dozen labour rights bodies, on Friday demanded making arrangements for Covid treatment and priority-based vaccination for readymade garment (RMG) workers. They also demanded proper compensation for the workers in case of Covid death, corona risk allowance and bearing extra-conveyance cost for them. The SKOP leaders came up with the demands from a demonstration rally held in front of the Jatiya Press Club. They harshly criticised the irresponsible decision for opening the mills-factories, keeping the public transport suspended. Read: RMG industry earns global recognition for strides in safety, sustainability: BGMEA The worker leaders demanded the punishment for the responsible persons who harassed the workers by forcing them to join work suddenly amid the countrywide Covid lockdown. They claimed that the employers are plotting to cut off wages for the days when the factories were closed due to the Covid lockdown, and also hindering the workers from joining work in many factories. But these efforts will not be tolerated, they warned. The leaders said any job cut or any curtailment in salary or overtime allowance would not be accepted during the corona period. Read: Govt urged to protect RMG goods from highway theft SKOP joint coordinator Shahidullah Chowdhury presided over the rally conducted by Ahsan Habib Bulbul, said a release. President of Samajtantrik Sramik Front Razequzzaman Ratan, President of Jatiya Sramik Jote Bangladesh Saifuzzaman Badsha, President of Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation Nazma Akter, Convener of Garments Sramik and Shilpa Rokkha Jatiya Moncha Abul Hossain and General Secretary of Bangladesh Trade Union Sangha Chowdhury Ashikul Alam.

Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP), a platform of over a dozen labour rights bodies, on Wednesday demanded judicial investigation into the killing of five workers of a coal-fired power plant at Banshkhali in Chattogram to ensure punishment  of those  responsible for the incident. It also demanded withdrawal of ‘false case’ to end harassment of workers, provide a good amount of compensation, arrangement for free treatment of the injured workers.   The federation staged a demonstration in front of the Jatiya Press Club to press home their demands at 11am on Wednesday, said a press release. SKOP joint coordinator and president of Bangladesh Trade Union Kendra Shahidullah Chowdhury presided over the programme, while SKOP leaders Jatiya Sramik Federation president Kamrul Ahsan, Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal president Anwar Hossain and Samajtantrik Sramik Front president Razekuzzaman Ratan and Jatiya Sramik Jote Bangladesh president Saifuzzaman Badsha, among others, spoke. Also read: Banshkhali incident: SKOP seeks exemplary punishment According to witnesses, the workers were demonstrating to meet their 10-point demand including payment of arrears and reducing the daily work hours to 4 on Friday and 8 on other days during Ramadan, they said. Though the authorities of the plant initially assured to accept their demands a day ago, they refused to meet these on the fateful day. Five workers were killed and over 50 others injured in an indiscriminate firing on the demonstration of workers, they claimed. Police can’t open fire indiscriminately unless the life-threatening risk is created, SKOP leaders  said.  Also read: 2500 sued over Banshkhali incident The SKOP leaders said it’ll have to look into the incident by a judicial body to unearth the true facts and identify the culprits. They also expressed grave concern for harassing workers by filing ‘false’ cases against several thousand workers. 

Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP), a platform of over a dozen labour rights bodies, has demanded exemplary punishment to those responsible for the Banshkhali incident in which five workers of a coal-fired power plant were killed. The federation also demanded judicial investigation into the incident, providing proper compensations for the victims and ending harassment of workers. The demands came from a virtual meeting of SKOP held with its joint coordinator Shahidullah Chowdhury on Monday afternoon. SKOP also announced new programmes to press home their demands, said a press release on Tuesday. Also read: 2500 sued over Banshkhali incident SKOP leaders Mesbah Uddin Ahmed, Anwar Hossain, Razekuzzaman Ratan, Kamrul Ahsan, Chowdhury Ashikul Alam, Naimul Ahsan Jewel, Shakil Akter Chowdhury, Ripon Chowdhury, Shamim Ara, Ahsan Habib Bulbul, Abul Kalam Azad and Firoz Hossain, among others, spoke at the meeting. They said five workers were killed and over 50 others injured in a sudden and indiscriminate firing on agitating workers of the coal-fired power plant of S Alam Group who were demonstrating to press home their 10-point demand including payment of arrears and reducing the daily work hours to 8 during Ramadan. They demanded identifying those responsible and bringing them to book through investigation. They said it is essential to mete out exemplary punishment to everyone who is responsible for this killing in order to change the irresponsible and arrogant mindset developed among the government’s employees towards the working people who are real owners of the country. They said the district administration announced to provide nominal compensation and the superintendent of police blamed the workers. Also read: Police firing in Chattogram leaves five workers dead Terming the incident a cold-blooded killing, the SKOP leaders said the case was filed accusing the workers and villagers but those who opened fire were not arrested. SKOP will continue its programmes including demonstrations and rallies to ensure punishment to those responsible through a fair investigation. It will also place a memorandum before the Home Minister in this regard. SKOP will stage a demonstration in front of the Jatiya Press Club at 11am on Wednesday (April 21) to press home its demands over the Banshkhali incident. Besides, the federation of labour rights bodies decided to observe April 24 as the garment worker mourning day on Saturday next on a small scale maintaining health hygiene rules amid the Covid-19 lockdown in a bid to mark the eighth anniversary of the Rana Plaza tragedy. Moreover, SKOP has taken programmes to observe the International Workers’ Day on May 1 next.