The protesting leaders of the running staff members of the Bangladesh Railway on Tuesday said that they would not withdraw their strike until their demand was met.
They vowed to continue their work abstention programme for an indefinite period.
They demanded an announcement from the advisers and the secretaries to the railways and finance ministries meeting their demand for restoration of their previous benefits for working extra hours.
Passengers across the country suffered immensely as nationwide rail communications remained suspended since early hours of Tuesday following the work abstention.
Under the banner of the Bangladesh Railway Running Staff and Sramik Karmachari Samity, the running staff members gave the authorities concerned an ultimatum till Monday to meet their demand.
The Samity acting president Md Saidur Rahman told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Tuesday afternoon that they would continue their movement until an announcement comes from the advisers and the secretaries.
According to the running staff leaders, before 2022 they used to get special financial facilities under the Railways Act.
The running staff members have duty period of eight hours daily, but they have to work for 15 to 18 hours due to shortage of workforces.
Under the law, they used to get the mileage facility which means that for every 100 kilometres of train run they used to receive an additional amount of money equivalent to one day’s basic salary.
Following this, if a working day is defined by an eight-hour shift, the running staff members work the equivalent of maximum three months of working days in a single month and before 2022 they used to get salaries like that.
They also used to get an additional 75 per cent of their pension higher than their basic salary.
In 2022, the Finance Division cancelled these facilities and the running staffs started their movement demanding these facilities again.
