Srimangal/Moulvibazar/Representative/

22 workers working at the gas plant of Kalapur Chevron Company at Srimangal in Moulvibazar were dismissed from their jobs in defiance of the court order. The sacked employees held a press conference at Srimangal Press Club demanding reinstatement of their jobs.

Tuesday (July 11) at 11 a.m. on behalf of 22 workers in a press conference to demand reinstatement of jobs at Srimangal Press Club. Zakir Hossain, in a written statement, said that we have been working in the company’s gas plant since 2004 with honesty and integrity. From 2006 to 2008, this company made only 10 workers permanent out of a total of 45 workers. From 2008 to 2023, no more workers were made permanent or even increased in salary.

In this regard, we applied to the company several times, but the company did not consider our demand. Last year in 2013, we common workers observed a 15-day strike to collect demands. After our movement, the company hired new contractors and increased the salary by 100 taka. But our main demand is that no steps have been taken to stabilize the job. We 22 employees appeared before the Dhaka Labor Court in May 2022 to claim our labor rights after working for the last 10 years. During the pendency of the suit, the court granted an interim order to Chevron and the contractor establishment that none of the 22 workers of the plaintiffs could be fired during the pendency of the suit. 22 workers of the plaintiff’s workers were dismissed on 13 June 2023 despite the court’s order. In the press conference, the fired workers said that some of us had been working at the Chevron Gas Plant for 12 to 19 years. We were fired suddenly with just a phone call without any reason or notice. In such a situation, we are in trouble with our family. We 22 workers have informed the local parliament member, district commissioner, Srimangal upazila administration, upazila parishad chairman and Moulvibazar gas plant authorities demanding reinstatement of our jobs. The workers said, in our long working life, we have paid some attention to the water supply. We want to once again contribute to the country’s economy with our efficiency. We are demanding to the authorities for reinstatement in our workplace while respecting the law and court. In this regard, Jamshedur Rahman Jamshed, the owner of the contracting establishment Samata Enterprises, said that these dismissed workers have been employed at the daily wage rate. None of them were taken permanently.