Metro Rail Staff Announce Total Strike from Friday over Delayed Service Rule
Regular officers and employees of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), the operator of the capital’s popular metro rail service, have announced a full-scale work stoppage and suspension of all passenger services from 7:00 am on Friday, 12 December, citing the authorities’ failure to formulate and publish a comprehensive service rule.
The announcement follows the expiry of a previously issued ultimatum. Employees said the DMTCL was supposed to finalise and publish the service rule by 9 December, but as the deadline passed without progress, they were compelled to proceed with the strike.
According to sources, along with the work stoppage, employees will also stage a peaceful sit-in in front of the DMTCL headquarters every day. They stated that without a service rule, there is no assurance of career progression, salary structure, benefits, or basic rights. “No more verbal assurances. There is no solution without a published service rule,” they added.
Several DMTCL officials confirmed the development on Wednesday, 10 December.
They noted that although the organisation was established in 2013, even after 12 years, no dedicated service rule has been finalised for more than 900 officers and employees. As a result, those recruited through open competition and performing round-the-clock duties since the metro rail’s commercial launch on 28 December 2022 have been deprived of essential benefits, including leave policies, CPF, gratuity, shift allowance or overtime, and group insurance coverage.
Employees further stated that despite an advisory committee’s directive on 12 September 2024 to prepare the service rule within 60 working days, it was never implemented. Later, when employees launched a movement on 13 February 2025, the authorities assured them on 20 February that the rule would be finalised by 20 March. The repeated delay has sparked months of frustration and anger among the workforce.
Employees also alleged that while the board of directors wished to remove controversial provisions, pressure from the DMTCL authorities has delayed publication of the rule. Under the earlier ultimatum, employees warned that if the service rule was not published by 9 December, and if it still remained pending by 11 December, they would enforce a complete work stoppage from the morning of 12 December, halting metro rail operations entirely.
They acknowledged that the shutdown would cause major inconvenience to the hundreds of thousands of passengers who rely on metro rail daily but insisted that “full responsibility lies with the DMTCL authorities. We are left with no choice.”
DBTech/DIK/EK/OR
