Ctg private healthcare workers demand Tk30,000 minimum wage
They also seek the abolition of contractor and outsourcing-based employment, the enforcement of labour laws and legal benefits.
Workers and employees of private healthcare institutions in Chattogram have demanded the immediate formation of a wage board to set a minimum monthly wage of Tk30,000 for workers in the sector.
They made the demand at a human chain organised by the Private Healthcare Institutions Employees Union at Probartak intersection in the city today (10 August).
Speaking at the programme, Tapan Dutta, former member of the Labour Reform Commission and president of the Trade Union Centre Chattogram district committee, said the private healthcare sector had expanded over the past four and a half decades, with private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres now serving a large section of the population.
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"Workers in this sector serve people every day while putting their own lives at risk. Yet many of them are deprived of fair wages and rights guaranteed under labour laws," he said.
Although wage boards have been formed for workers in several sectors, no such board has yet been established for the millions of workers and employees in the private healthcare sector, Dutta said.
He also said it was impossible for a worker to support a family on a monthly salary of Tk4,000-5,000 amid rising costs of housing, utilities, healthcare, education and essential goods.
Trade Union Centre Chattogram Joint Secretary Iftekhar Kamal Khan said many private healthcare institutions fail to provide workers with basic legal rights and benefits.
"Many institutions do not properly provide appointment letters, identity cards, service books, leave, overtime allowances, festival bonuses, provident funds, insurance and other benefits," he said.
Workers are also often made to work more than eight hours a day without receiving legally mandated overtime payments, he added.
Kamal called for strengthening the activities of the Department of Labour and the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments to ensure compliance with labour laws.
He also demanded institutional recognition and job continuity for experienced aide nurses and technicians, saying they had played a role in the development of the private healthcare sector.
He called for the immediate abolition of contractor-based and outsourcing employment in the sector.
Later, the protesters marched with red flags to the Chattogram deputy commissioner's office, where they submitted a memorandum addressed to the labour and employment minister and the health and family welfare minister through Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman.
