Long-route bus services from Rajshahi, Natore and Chapainawabganj districts resumed on Tuesday evening, after remaining suspended for about 39 hours due to a transport workers’ strike for pay rise.
Services resumed at 6:00pm following a meeting in Dhaka between transport owners and workers, where the demands were accepted.
Nazrul Islam Helal, general secretary of Rajshahi Road Transport Group, said that the workers withdrew the strike at 6:00pm after bus owners had agreed to an increase in wages.
Earlier on Monday morning, transport workers suspended bus services for the second time in September, demanding a pay rise alleging that their wages had stagnated at the same level for about a decade.
They alleged that they had been drawing the same wages—Tk 1,100 for drivers, 500 for supervisors and Tk 400 for driver’s assistants (helpers) per trip.
They demanded that the rate per trip should be raised to Tk 2,000 for drivers, Tk 1,100 for supervisors and Tk 1,000 for helpers, with higher payments for trips extending to Kansat in Chapainawabganj.
Nazrul Islam Helal said that from now on, each driver would receive Tk 1,750 per trip, while supervisors and helpers would also see a pay rise.
The strike left passengers in distress on Monday and Tuesday, as no bus except those of Ekota Transport operated on the route.
In Rajshahi city, passengers were seen in long queues at the terminal and railway station, with many failing to find alternatives and those facing emergency needs being forced to take costly alternative transport.
