May Day March: Fired Grameenphone Workers Demand Due Dues
On International Workers’ Day—globally recognized as a time to uphold labor rights and dignity—worker organizations across the country held various programs under the theme, “Workers and owners united, let’s rebuild the nation.” Among these demonstrations, a protest was held on Thursday morning by the “Grameenphone 5% Delayed Dues Collection Unity Council” at the locked gates of the GP House in the Basundhara residential area.
At around 11:00 AM, more than fifty former Grameenphone employees gathered with red cloths tied around their heads and posters strapped across their chests, expressing their demands in both Bangla and English. Slogans printed in black and white on red paper included: “May Day pledge: Blood and tears of February 25 will not go in vain. We won’t give up the 5%,” “5% is not charity, it’s a right,” and “Condemn the police attack on workers at the behest of Grameenphone.”
In impassioned speeches, the demonstrators warned Grameenphone’s management, saying, “We are not fossils—we are four thousand burning volcanoes; ignited again and again by waiting. We are fire. If the people of sovereign Bangladesh decide, Grameenphone’s business will have to be packed up and moved out within 24 hours.” They urged the government to prevent a repeat of the company’s exit from Myanmar.
Despite the scorching heat, the demonstrators stood side by side on the pavement outside the office gate, voicing their anger. Some participated on crutches, while others attended with babies in their arms. Former employees have expressed their anger and hope in songs, poems, and powerful slogans—hope for a just solution, where workers’ rights will no longer be trampled upon.
The protesters accused Grameenphone, which claims to be Bangladesh’s only full-compliance company, of filing legal cases against workers and sending them to jail. They alleged the company is now facing complaints from 90 out of every 100 Bangladeshis due to poor service. Their key demands include reinstating the workers dismissed without cause and compensating them with 5% of the company’s profits as delayed penalty dues.
Former employees taking part in the protest described Grameenphone as a “monstrous corporation,” alleging that workers were arbitrarily dismissed without prior notice. Many, they claimed, were terminated overnight via email. According to the protesters, such dismissals have been occurring systematically for years. They have been doing this for a long time. Grameenphone’s 5% fine is the rightful due of thousands of former employees. By withholding this money for 15 long years, the company has shown what corporate injustice looks like. Today’s movement is not politics, not revenge—it is a fight for survival, a cry of the heart for justice.
