Unrest at icddr,b
Employees of icddr,b observed a two hours' work abstention from 10:00am on its Dhaka premises yesterday demanding, among others, salaries consistent with that provided by the United Nations as per the international health research organisation's ordinance of 1978.
At a rally, they also called upon the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) to cancel a contract through which 40,500 square feet of its space was leased out at a "throwaway price" for 49 years.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. They sought cutting down food costs at its canteen, reportedly raised from Tk 40 to Tk 120, along with monthly transport costs, increased from Tk 275 to Tk 1,800; festival bonus and increasing the retirement age.
The workers also urged for a stop to recruiting foreigners to posts not related to science, saying the 17 already present in the management section had been appointed "unnecessarily". However, there was no issue over recruiting foreigners to posts related to science.
"We, the local staff, get only 40 percent of the UN salary scale while foreign staff get 106 percent," said Dr Firoze Ahmed, general secretary of icddr,b's Staff Welfare Association (SWA).
Recently, a new post, chief operating officer, was created and a foreigner appointed, which is totally unnecessary, he said.
Another SWA leader said promotions have been halted, except for a few favourites of the authority, for the last three years.
He demanded that the copyright of the prestigious Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition of icddr,b be bought back from a UK company.
Asked, the icddr,b communication department sent a statement, saying icddr,b appreciates SWA's role in expressing concerns.
"As we go through a period of change, icddr,b management will continue to meet with SWA on a regular basis to ensure that the view of all staff members are heard," said the statement.
It, however, refrained from making any specific comments on the demands, saying those are management issues and it will not be appropriate for them to comment at this point of time.
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