The Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) have demanded the immediate announcement of the 10th Wage Board for media professionals alongside interim dearness allowance, also calling for full implementation of the existing 9th Wage Board with arrears in media institutions where it remains unenforced.
In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, January 28, BFUJ President Obaidur Rahman Shaheen, Secretary General Quader Gani Chowdhury and DUJ President Md Shahidul Islam and General Secretary Khurshid Alam said journalists across the country are struggling to meet basic living expenses amid soaring prices of daily necessities and escalating house rents, while many media houses continue to evade implementing wage board awards through what they termed deliberate institutional strategies.
The leaders said journalists, long subjected to professional discrimination, have been demanding the declaration of the 10th Wage Board for years, but the fallen fascist government repeatedly ignored the issue. They further alleged that even after the autocratic regime was ousted through the July Uprising led by journalists, students and the general public, the interim government has failed over the last one and a half years to take any concrete initiative, including forming a wage board award implementation committee for journalists.
"We media workers are not against increasing the salaries and allowances of anyone, including government officials, employees or other professionals. But the government must ensure that this does not increase inequality in society and must also take the issue of other stakeholders in society seriously," the statement read.
Expressing deep frustration, the journalist leaders said, "We would like to mention with great anger and sadness that considering the characteristics, difficulties and hardships of the work of media workers, the salaries and allowances of journalists were better than those of government employees up to the fourth award. But the bureaucrats at the center of power have repeatedly inflated their salaries and allowances by misleading the government. The media workers, known as the fourth pillar of the state, remain neglected as always."
They noted that although the 10th Wage Board was announced for journalists nearly a decade ago, many media outlets have yet to implement even the ongoing 9th Wage Board, depriving journalists of lawful remuneration and accumulated arrears.
