GP staff protest enters 2nd month
Grameenphone employees yesterday passed the 31st day of their movement over a seven-point demand, including ones for salary hike and other benefits, an end to increment inequalities and an immediate stop to “illegal” job terminations.
The Grameenphone Employees Union (GPEU) held demonstrations in the mobile operator's headquarter and countrywide offices between 1:30pm to 2:00pm, said Mia Md Shafiquer Rahman Masud, general secretary of the body.
“We wore red coloured t-shirts protesting the authority's injustices,” said Masud. Earlier black coloured t-shirts were used.
The GPEU said to have decided to limit working hours to eight so that overtime pay was ensured.
They demanded rational increments, the one for 2016 to be at least 10 percent and that sequential increment gaps not exceed 4 percent.
GP declared a 7.85 percent increment on an average in April but the GPEU rejected it.
“In the last five years the operator earned Tk 54,733 crore as revenue and secured a huge amount of profit but spent little on employees' betterment,” said Masud.
He said the GPEU proposed a salary structure in line with that of civil servants which witnessed a 100 percent increase in 2015, but the operator turned it down.
“We are urging the authority to accept our proposal…considering everyday expenses,” he added.
The union also demanded reinstatement of ABM Zahidur Rahman, general secretary of Grameenphone Peoples Council, another organisation of employees, with proper compensation as per a court order.
Rahman was terminated from his job on April 16 over a sexual harassment allegation of 2016. Terming it a conspiracy, the union said the issue was resolved two years back.
Masud also called for job security, better working environment and respect for employees and a stop to job outsourcing, threats and misbehaviour.
GP said it respects employees' right to association and their opinion in matters related to their interests and resolves employee issues internally in accordance with the laws of the land.
“Notably, we benchmark employees' compensation against the very top pay-masters of the country and make sure that our employees are being paid competitively, fairly and equitably,” said the operator.
“Additionally, due to our good performance in 2017, our employees received larger quarterly performance bonuses, and are receiving a 22 percent higher profit sharing than last year,” it added.
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