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Bangladesh jute workers strike over pay

DHAKA: Most of the 80,000 workers at Bangladesh's state-owned jute mills which produce the country's principal cash crop went on a 24-hour pay strike on Sunday and warned of further disruption, officials said.

"We will go for more strikes unless the authorities implement a pay hike as recommended by the Wages Commission," said Mohammed Hussain, vice president of Hafiz Jute Mills Workers Union, in the Chittagong area.

Workers at the country's 35 state-owned mills, including the biggest Adamjee Jute Mills, downed tools at 6 a.m., a jute ministry official said.

Officials said the Wages Commission, established in 1996, recommended new wages last year, but implementation has been delayed because of objections from mill managers.

"We cannot accept the recommendations because they asked for payment of arrears (since 1996) worth taka 1.83 billion ($35.88 million) to the workers," Abdul Kader Mridha, Finance director of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC), which represents the public sector jute mills, told Reuters.

"The recommendations if implemented will also compel BJMC to pay taka 930 million ($18.23 million) every year as additional wages for the workers," he said.

A mill worker now receives a monthly salary of 1,500 taka ($29.5) but the recommendations would increase this to 1,740 taka per month.

Jute is fighting a losing battle against cheaper and more durable synthetics in the global market.-Reuters