ZCZC
BSS-53
JOURNALISTS-BNP-STATEMENT
BNP’s statement favoring Noab makes journos shocked: BFUJ
DHAKA, Aug 26, 2020 (BSS) – Journalist leaders today said the BNP’s
statement in favour of the Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh
(Noab) made journalists shocked and angry.
In a statement, Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) said
BNP secretary general Fakhrul Islam Alamgir made a statement on Sunday
night in support of Noab’s statement.
Seeing the statement of Fakhrul, the leaders of the BFUJ and Dhaka
Union of Journalists (DUJ) were astonished and outraged.
They condemned and turned down the Fakhrul’s statement as it went
against the interest of journalists.
In a statement issued on August 21 demanding ‘protection of the
newspaper industry’, Noab termed the award of the 9th Wage Board for
journalists and newspapers employees ‘unrealistic and irrational’.
The Noab said it is impossible for the country’s newspapers to
implement the 9th Wage Board and even no wage board, including the
ninth one, is logical.
Turning down the Noab’s statement, the BFUJ and DUJ leaders said
the wage board is not just a pay structure but a law of the state,
while it protects the rights and dignity of the journalists and media
workers.
The wage boards for journalists and employees of newspapers and
news agencies were being implemented since long before Noab was
formed, they said.
The journalist leaders said if the wage board, as per the demand of
Noab, is unrealistic and irrational one, there will be no difference
between the media personnel and the workers and day-labourers of other
industries.
They said if there is no wage board for journalists and media
employees, everyone from a professional editor to a peon of newspaper
industry would become a labourer.
The BFUJ mentioned that Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman enacted the Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service)
Act in 1974 aiming to protect the rights and dignity of journalists.
This law ensures the facilities of journalists and newspaper workers.
BFUJ President Mollah Jalal and Secretary General Shaban Mahmud,
DUJ President Quddus Afrad and General Secretary Sajjad Alam Khan
Tapu, Chittagong Journalists Union (CUJ) President Mohammad Ali and
General Secretary Shamsul Islam, Khulna Journalists Union (KUJ)
President Munshi Mahbub Alam Sohag and General Secretary Sayeduzzaman
Samrat, JUJ President Sajed Rahman Bakul and General Secretary Habibur
Rahman Milon, BUJ President Amjad Hossain Mintu and General Secretary
GM Rouf, and RUJ President Kazi Shahed and General Secretary Tanjimul
Haque, among others, signed in the statement.
BSS/PR/MRI/MRU/2055hrs