Journalists’ rally demanding formation of 10th wage board, dearness allowance on Thursday

Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) have called a protest rally in front of the National Press Club tomorrow Thursday demanding immediate formation of the 10th Wage Board for media workers, declaration of interim dearness allowance and implementation of the 9th Wage Board award including arrears.

This information was given in a joint press release of the two organizations on Wednesday.

BFUJ general secretary Kader Gani Chowdhury and DUJ general secretary Khurshid Alam jointly called upon leaders of various professional organizations including journalists to take part in the rally in due time.

In a joint statement, DUJ president Md Shahidul Islam and general secretary Khurshid Alam said the journalist community has fallen into severe financial crisis due to the increase in prices of daily necessities and rise in daily expenses.

Leaders of BFUJ and DUJ alleged that the 9th Wage Board award declared for journalists nearly a decade ago has not yet been implemented in many media outlets on various legal and administrative pretexts. After the fall of the then government through the student-people and journalists’ movement in July-August 2024, despite repeated demands to the interim government, no effective initiative has been taken to form an implementation committee for the new Wage Board award for journalists.

They said significant salary increase has been made in the recently approved national pay scale for government employees. Yet if only the facilities of government employees are increased leaving out media workers, severe discrimination will be created in society.

Journalist leaders said journalists’ salaries and allowances were better than those of government employees until the 4th Wage Board award. But due to bureaucratic complications, the journalist community is now neglected.

They demanded immediate declaration of the 10th Wage Board, ensuring regular salaries and allowances, and effective government initiative for implementation of the award including arrears in those institutions where the 9th Wage Board has not been implemented.