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Noab on 8th wage board

Staff Correspondent
The Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh (Noab) yesterday urged the government to reconsider its announcement about forming the eighth wage board for workers and employees of the newspaper industry.
"Forming a new wage board three and a half years after the seventh wage board award will put the newspaper industry into a big crisis," it said in a statement.
Describing the current situation of the industry, the Noab said the government has not yet fulfilled the demands it had placed at the time of the seventh wage board award. The Noab members, however, implemented the seventh
wage board award tully.
"We had requested the government to increase the volume of government advertisement and its rate, and to withdraw tax on imported newsprint. In the past, the newspaper industry enjoyed such facilities," the Noab said in the statement.
The Noab members had sit with the prime minister and the information minister more than once, but the government had fulfilled none of their demands.
Besides, prices of all raw materials meant for the newspaper industry went up, resulting in increased cost of newspaper publication.
Against this backdrop, if a new wage board is formed, the industry will fall into a big crisis, the statement says adding that this in turn will put journalists, employees and workers of this industry into uncertainties.
"Therefore, we request the government and all others concerned to refrain from taking any steps that will create new crisis in the newspaper industry," Noab said.
It said it supports the rational demands of the journalists-employees and welcomes any decision of the government under consideration of the situation. Noab also said it did not support that any government policy or decision should remain unimplemented by it.
"In this regard we can refer to the seventh wage board. We supported demands of the journalists and newspaper employees and workers. But, any additional financial expenses through the declaration of the eighth wage board will affect badly the newspaper industry as a whole."
The statement adds that the national pay commission and the seventh wage board award for journalists and newspaper employees were implemented at the same time.
'Tn this respect, we are requesting the government policymakers to consider how rational it is to declare the eighth wage board before declaring the new national pay commission," Noab said.