Although the government on January 8 last year signed an agreement with the labour organisations to protect the labourers' interests including announcement of minimum national wage, it has not yet taken any initiative to that end, the leaders said addressing the rally organised by Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (Skop) at Muktangan.

Leaders of the Skop, a combine of different trade unions, also called upon the fellow labourers to observe 48-hour strike on April 5 to 6. The countrywide strike was announced at a press conference on February 27.

They urged the government to reopen all the closed mills and factories, establish an wage commission, and restore the right to trade union in accordance with the January 2004 agreement.

"The government so far has not paid any heed to our demands, rather in violation of the agreement it continues to stick to a policy that is bound to destroy the local industries," Sangjukta Sramik Federation General Secretary Mokaddem Hossain said.

"Currently some 7500 mills and factories across the country remain closed and the government is deaf to the demand for their reopening," he added.

Besides, the government plans to hand over the country's valuable resources and establishments to the foreign countries, Mokaddem alleged.

"The successive governments have always supported the labour's demands in public, but never took any pragmatic steps to implement those," Jatiya Sramik Jote President Mejbah Uddin Ahmed said.

Neighbouring countries like India, Pakistan and Nepal have already announced the national minimum wage, while the labour in Bangladesh has still got to struggle for it, he added.

"Though both the government and opposition-backed labour organisations are in the Skop, it is unfortunate that our demands could not yet be realised," Jatiya Sramik League President Abdul Matin said.

Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal President Abul Kashem Chowdhury, Bangladesh Trade Union Centre President Nurul Islam, among others, spoke at the rally.