Anwara Correspondent: Various concerns have arisen among ordinary workers around the election of the Rangadia North Port Contractor Workers Union in Anwara. Special circles are making various efforts to stop the election of the general workers’ demand of the contractor labor union. In this situation, the workers of the state-owned factories CUFL, DAP, and Kafco Fertilizer are holding a labor strike by stopping the supply of fertilizer from 9 p.m. last Thursday in protest of the attempt to stop the elections by the initiative of the Rangadia North Port Contractors Workers’ Union. As a result, the supply of urea and ammonia fertilizers to dealers across the country has been stopped since last night.
It is known that the general election of Anwara’s Rangadia North Port Contractor Labor Union was scheduled to be held on November 3. For the past month, there has been a lot of excitement among the workers around the elections. Massive campaigning began between rival candidates. Meanwhile, Nazrul Islam was elected unopposed as general secretary. While other candidates are campaigning in the election field, one group started special pressure to stop the election. This angered the workers.
Earlier on Wednesday, the workers held a human chain program in the CUFL JT area to protest against the attempt to stop the election and stopped the supply of fertilizer for 6 hours that day.
Rangadia North Port Contractor Workers Union has about 320 registered and unregistered workers. These workers work in the supply of urea and ammonia fertilizers produced by CUFL, DAPCL, and Kafco. Meanwhile, due to the uncertainty of the upcoming November 3 elections, the workers called for a strike from last Thursday, and the fertilizer supply was stopped across the country for the last two days.
Nazrul Islam, General Secretary of Rangadia North Port Contractors Workers’ Union, who was elected unopposed, complained that the election of workers’ organizations was closed for more than 9 years. In this regard, in the general meeting of the organization, there was a pre-scheduled announcement of the election on Sunday, November 3. Even though all the preparations for the elections, including campaigning, have already been completed, a nefarious group started threatening to stop the election of ordinary workers. They attacked our office and tore down poster banners. Ordinary workers are angry for not getting administrative support in this incident. Moreover, the labor department also started various agitations. In this situation, due to election uncertainty, general laborers have been on strike for the last two days by stopping the supply of fertilizers. The leader of the labor organization said that until the final decision on the election is not taken, the supply of fertilizer will be stopped.
According to sources, 700 tons of urea and ammonia fertilizers are supplied from Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Company Limited (CUFL), 300 tons from DAP Fertilizer Company Limited (DAPCL), and 2 thousand 200 tons of urea and ammonia fertilizers from Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company Limited (Kafco) every day in 34 depots of the country. These fertilizers reach the marginal farmers through 5,500 dealers in every district of the country.
Confirming the suspension of fertilizer supply, Managing Director (MD) of CUFL, Mizanur Rahman, said that the supply of fertilizer to CUFL has been stopped since 9 p.m. on Thursday due to problems regarding the election of labor unions.
