WASHINGTON: Because of what they said inability to pay according to the “illogical wage hike,” cargo vessel owners today declared they will continue their strike across all ports of the country. “We have nothing against any pay hike, but this is illogical,” Khorshed Alam, senior vice president of Bangladesh Cargo Vessel Owners Association (BCVOA), told our Chittagong correspondent.
Their decision to continue strike at Chittagong port, that has already put activities at the country’s sea port under great strain, was taken at a meeting of the cargo vessel owners this afternoon. The shipping minister, during a tripartite meeting on April 26, declared to hike the minimum wages by 135 per cent to 185 per cent for the workers of three categories of vessels.
“A decision for pay hike should be taken through discussion among three parties –owners, workers and the labour ministry,” Khorshed said. Yesterday, Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) called on the vessel owners to withdraw their programme in order to ease the cargo discharge at outer anchorage of the port.
A total of 26.57 lakh tones of imported goods currently remained stranded at mother vessels harboured at the outer anchorage and at the cargo vessels across the country. The goods include wheat, lentil, raw sugar, maize, crude oil, cement clinker, slag, limestone, coal, stone, urea, steel billet, ball clay and others.
