Wage Dispute Leads to Hunger Strike at Bangladesh Papers
About 50 Bangladeshi journalists began a hunger strike Sunday to protest a move by a publishing house to close its two newspapers in a wage dispute.
The journalists said their “fast unto death” will continue until the owners of the Bangladesh Observer and the Chitrali settle the wage dispute and drop a plan to shut the papers.
The Bangladesh Observer, the country’s largest circulation English daily, and the Chitrali, its sister Bengali weekly, ceased publication last week.
The journalists and press workers had demanded a 35% inflation allowance recommended by a government-sanctioned wage board. The owners refused to pay, saying the recommendation was illegal.
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