JU teachers stage sit-in, threaten indefinite work abstention for better pay

By Sharmin Rahman

Savar, Jan. 7 (NsNewsWire) — Jahangirnagar University (JU) teachers have staged a two-hour work abstention in protest against anomalies in the 8th national pay scale.

They also staged a sit-in program in front of the university’s New Arts building demanding immediate revision of the pay scale in line with the assurance made by the finance minister.

The teachers held the sit-in from 11 am to 1 pm on Thursday.

Protesting teachers wore black badges for the fifth consecutive day.

Speaking at the sit-in program, the Jahangirnagar University Teachers Association (JUTA) leaders threatened to go for a complete work abstention for indefinite period from Jan. 11 if their demands remain unfulfilled.

Professor Khabir Uddin, president,  and Professor Mafruhi Satter, general secretary, of JUTA, among others, spoke at the sit-in program.

Teachers of the country’s 38 public universities have long been staging demonstrations to press home a four-point charter of demands that include the formation of a commission to initiate an independent pay scale for them.

The other demands are salary and allowance parity between senior professors and senior secretaries, and between professors and secretaries; upgrading the status of teachers in the warrant of precedence; and the provision of cars and other allowances for teachers similar to provisions given to bureaucrats. Enditem