Politicians, elite prefer to keep workers subservient: Abul Bashar

Workers need to continue with their struggle against the ruling class, led by politicians who hold an elitist attitude and always prefer to keep workers subservient to them, said labour leader Abul Bashar.

He said the workers, directly involved in production in mills, had never seen increase in their wages although the salaries of the managerial and clerical staff had been increased with the announcement of national pay scales.

National pay scales were announced at regular intervals as high officials in the government also benefit the pay scales, Bashar said in an interview with New Age on Sunday.

The officials have always been obstructive to the announcement of national wages for workers, in general, and jute mill workers, in particular, who were always treated as slaves, he said.

Bashar, now president of the Jatiya Sramik Federation of Bangladesh, an associate body of the Workers Party of Bangladesh, played a leading role in struggles against almost all governments in six decades to protect worker’s rights.

Bashar, also a member on the Sramik-Karmachari Oikya Parishad steering committee, believes SKOP could not protect worker’s rights as most of the labour leaders felt the need for subservience to political parties as they preferred to remain well-off at the cost of worker’s rights.