Miners at Barapukuria have postponed their strike until September 3 after five days of work abstention but has declared that new protest plans will be announced after Eid vacation.
More than 1,000 contractual workers of the Barapukuria Coal Mine Company Limited began the strike on August 23 demanding that their jobs should be brought under regular payroll. They are contracted by Chinese firm Xuxu Machineries Company.
Rabiul Islam, president of Barapukuria Coal Mine Workers Union, said on Sunday their decision to pause the strike came to celebrate the Eid but they would not return to work.
'We are postponing the strike until September 3,' he said. 'But we won't join the work for now. New protest plans will be announced after Eid.'
Meanwhile, BCMCL managing director engineer Mohammad Quamruzzaman said they had agreed to meet the demands of the workers.
'But they submitted a memorandum on Saturday placing some new demands,' he said.
According to the union, the mine's agreement with the Chinese firm ended on October 10 last year. Petrobangla renewed the deal on the following day for six more years but their demands were not left out in the deal.
Source : New Age
