Since the last week thousands of Jute Mill Workers in Bangladesh are in strike. Workers from nine jute mills began with a 72-hour strike and made another 48-hour strike. The main demands of the workers are a wage commission, the immediate payment of due gratuities and a provident fund.
To enforce their demands they also did a 4-hour shutdown on highways and railways and demonstrations. The workers enforced the blockade in key areas of the region, such as: Khalishpur New Road intersection in Khulna, in front of Alim Jute Mill in Atra, at Rajghat in Jessore, and at parts of the Khulna-Jessore highway. In Rajshahi the demonstration of the workers completely shut down the highway. In Chittagong, workers blocked off a road and stopped several trains from leaving the station.
During the strike a police station was attacked and the police was attacked with stones. The police searches now for 250 "unnamed suspects" and doesn't want to connect it directly with the strike. It seems like police and government doesn't want a violent and "wild" strike and protest of the workers. It shows that if the workers trust in their own strength, they are a very powerful force. Every speech about "peaceful protests" is a weapon against the struggling workers, in the try to divide them. But the strike and the struggle is justified, with every kind of form it will take.
The workers also organize meetings to discuss on their struggle:
