The Trade Union Centre (TUC) of Chattogram organised a workers’ rally at the city’s Prabartak intersection on Wednesday at 3pm.
Following the rally, participants brought out a red-flag procession that paraded through several major roads in the city before concluding at Kazirdeuri.
The rally was presided over by Tapan Dutta, president of the TUC Chattogram Committee, while Iftekhar Kamal Khan, joint secretary, conducted the proceedings.
Speakers at the event called for making the December 5 workers’ rally in Sagarika, organised under the banner of Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP), a success.
They demanded an immediate halt to the move to lease out the port’s New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) and other installations to foreign companies and urged the cancellation of lease agreements concerning Laldia Char and Pangaon.
In his address, Dutta said the movement to protect the port has now spread nationwide under SKOP’s leadership.
“If the government still fails to awaken to the public sentiment, a stronger movement will be built,” he said.
Dutta further said that workers and conscious citizens of Bangladesh would not allow any conspiracy against the country’s interests to be implemented.
He also urged the government to implement recommendations of the Labor Reform Commission and swiftly accept the 9-point demands of the Workers-Employees Unity Council.
Expressing concern over the continued rise in essential commodity prices, he said this has put a severe burden on workers.
Other leaders at the rally strongly reiterated the demand for establishing fair-price shops in worker-dominated areas and reintroducing a rationing system.
Speeches in solidarity were delivered by Ibrahim Khokon, general secretary of the Nationalist Workers’ Party at the port, and Shamsur Rahman Swapan, executive president.
Additional speakers included TUC Central Committee Organiser Fazlul Kabir Mintu, Pahartali–Sagarika Regional Committee General Secretary Sukanta Dutta, Private Health Institution Employees’ Union President Abdur Rahim, Insab Chittagong District Committee President Babul Hossain Anis, and other workers’ representatives.
