Bangladesh train services hit as staff strike over benefits

Dhaka: Train services in Bangladesh came to a standstill on Tuesday as railway staff, demanding benefits for extra work, went on a nationwide indefinite strike that hit hundreds of thousands of people.

A long-standing dispute over overtime pay and pension benefits for railway workers led to staff abstaining from work, its union said, adding that they had given the authorities until Monday to meet their demands.

The strike affected operations of about 400 passenger trains, including over 100 inter-city services, and over three dozen freight trains operated by Bangladesh Railway. The railway carries about 250,000 passengers daily.

"We had train tickets for this afternoon to attend a concert," said Reza Fakir, a country folk singer from the southwestern district of Kushtia. "But now we've had to buy bus tickets to get there, so we ended up paying double."

Bangladesh's railways ministry said train passengers will be allowed to use their pre-booked tickets on bus services they ran on some important train routes from Tuesday.

"Bangladesh Railway and the railways ministry are very sincere and trying their best to meet the demands of the staff... we have been in regular touch with the finance ministry," the railways ministry said in a statement, imploring workers to withdraw the strike.

Railway staff in Bangladesh, including drivers, assistant drivers, guards and ticket checkers, have regularly worked beyond scheduled hours due to a shortage of manpower. In return, they have traditionally received extra pay along with pension benefits calculated on those additional hours.

However, a controversial government decision in November, 2021 removed pension benefits based on overtime work, causing discontent among the workers who said the decision threatened their financial security after retirement.

The railways ministry intervened in April, 2022 to ensure the continuation of these pension benefits but the workers remain concerned that the policy could be reinstated under the current interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.

Some new recruits have also been excluded from both extra pay and pension benefits with their appointment letters explicitly stating that they would not receive the allowances.