Journalists and newspaper employees yesterday demanded the declaration of the eighth wage board by April 21. Otherwise they would stage a mass hunger strike the next day.

The announcement came at a six-hour sit-in in front of Jatiya Press Club.

The mass hunger strike will be staged from 10:00am to 4:00pm before Jatiya Press Club on April 22, said Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury.

At yesterday's rally, journalist leaders also warned that the newspaper industry would witness an indefinite strike if the demand was not fulfilled.

The BFUJ leader also urged the information ministry to take proper steps in line with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's earlier directives and threatened the ministry with tough consequences.

Sangbadik Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SSKOP) has so far held a number of protest programmes with the demand and issued several ultimatums to the government to no effect.

BFUJ President Ruhul Amin Gazi, BFUJ Secretary General Abdul Jalil Bhuyian, Dhaka Union of Journalist (DUJ) President Omar Faruk, DUJ General Secretary Shaban Mahmud, DUJ President Abdus Shaheed and DUJ General Secretary Md Baker Hossain, and Bangladesh Newspaper Press Workers Federation President Alamgir Hossain Khan and General Secretary Kamal Uddin addressed the rally.