The government has formed the ninth wage board to set the new salary structure for workers at newspapers and news agencies.
The Information Ministry has issued a notification announcing a 13-member board led by retired Appellate Division Justice Mohammed Nizamul Huq, according to bdnews24.
Acting Information Secretary Nasir Uddin Ahmed confirmed the formation of the new wage board.
“Additional details will be available at a press conference on Tuesday,” he said.
The ninth wage board will submit its recommendations to the government within six months of its formation. The board will also scrutinise the legal scope for electronic media workers,” Nasir Uddin Ahmed said.
“The planned wage board will take into consideration interim dearness allowances for newspaper workers and bring its recommendations to the government,” Ahmed said.
UNB says, the members of the board are President of Newspaper Owners Association of Bangladesh (Noab) Matiur Rahman, its Vice-president AK Azad, Treasurer Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, and members Mahfuz Anam and Tasmima Hossain, Convener of Bangladesh Sangbadpatra Parishad MG Kibria Chowdhury, President of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul, its Secretary General Omar Faruque, President of Bangladesh Newspapers Workers Federation Matiur Rahman Talukdar and Secretary General M Khairul Islam, President of Bangladesh Federal Union of Newspaper Press Workers Mohammad Alamgir Hossian Khan and its Secretary General Mohammad Kamal Uddin.
Joint Secretary (Press) of the Information Ministry M Mizan-ul-Alam will act as the secretary of the wage board, the notification said.
The government had formed the eighth wage board to set the salary structure for journalists on June 18, 2012.
Several months later, a 50 per cent dearness allowance was announced, which came into effect on Jul 1 of that year.
It has been over five years and seven months since the eighth wage board was formed.
The Information Ministry has eight months to set the new pay structure within the five-year outline. The eighth wage board took 15 months to complete its deliberations.
The eighth pay structure for newspaper and news agency workers was announced on Sept 15, 2013, boosting the base wage 75 percent. It came into effect on Sept 11 of that year.
Press organisations have been calling for a new pay structure since 2015.