Railway running staff’s strike called off, train services back to normal
Finally, the railway running staff withdrew the strike after promising to accept their demands. Railway operations have resumed since early morning.
The Sagardari Express left Rajshahi for Khulna at 6:10 am today.
Earlier, a meeting was held at the residence of the railway advisor on Tuesday night. In this meeting, student representative Hasnat Abdullah and BNP representative Shimul Biswas were present along with the workers’ delegation for mediation.
Incidentally, the railway running staff went on strike from Monday midnight demanding the resumption of the facilities that were closed in 2021. This brought the railway communication system across the country to a standstill. In view of this, train passengers suffered immensely throughout the day on Tuesday.
Despite repeated meetings between the government advisors and labor leaders over the various demands of the workers throughout the day, no solution was reached. Considering the suffering of the passengers in such a situation, a meeting was resumed at the railway advisor’s house on Tuesday night under the mediation of Hasnat Abdullah, a representative of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, and Shimul Biswas, a representative of the BNP. Labor leaders were also present at this meeting. During the meeting, around 2:30 am, the railway advisor assured the workers of accepting some of their demands.
In this regard, Railway Advisor Muhammad Fauzul Kabir Khan said, “We have talked about the benefits of the railway running staff. The Finance Ministry has been contacted in this regard. The Finance Ministry has assured us of some benefits. However, even then, the railway running staff have some other demands. Especially the mileage benefit cannot be more than one month.”
Meanwhile, labor leader Mujibur Rahman announced the withdrawal of the railway running staff’s strike from the night after the assurance of the railway advisor.
General Secretary of the Running Staff and Workers Union Md. Mujibur Rahman said, “We do not want such suffering for the passengers. The strike has been forced. I will tell the staff brothers to return to their respective duties.
Meanwhile, the labor leaders expect a government order to be issued by Wednesday to fulfill their demands and restore the old rules of allowances and pension benefits for the railway running staff.
Earlier, Hasnat Abdullah, convener of the anti-discrimination student movement, said in a post on Facebook, “The strike of railway officials and employees has been called off. We, along with the labor leaders, met the railway advisor to resolve the problems of railway officials and employees.”
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