Employees of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) have announced a full work stoppage starting on Friday morning, protesting repeated delays in finalizing the company’s independent service rules. Because of this strike, all metro rail passenger services may remain suspended indefinitely.
The employees also said that they would hold peaceful demonstrations every day in front of the DMTCL headquarters, according to a press release issued on Wednesday.
Since its inception in 2013, DMTCL had not framed a complete and independent set of rules for its more than 900 officers and staffers. As a result, they say they have long been denied benefits such as leave policies, CPF, gratuity, shift allowances, overtime, group insurance, and opportunities for promotion.
Employees said that on September 12, 2024, an adviser instructed that the service rules be completed within 60 working days—but the directive was never carried out. When workers protested again in February 2025, the DMTCL authorities promised the rules would be finalized by March 20. Nine months have passed, and that promise still hasn’t been fulfilled.
Workers claim that although the board has agreed to all sections of the service rules, a newly added chapter titled “Special Provisions”—meant to integrate project staff into the company—is in conflict with government regulations and a Supreme Court ruling. Because of this, the rules cannot be approved.
During a meeting on December 10, the managing director told employees that the service rules could not be approved unless the special provision was removed. He also could not provide any deadline for completing the rules.
Employees stated that if the rules are not published by December 11, they will begin a full strike on December 12, shutting down metro rail services completely. They will also continue daily peaceful demonstrations at the DMTCL headquarters.
They say they were forced to take this step because of what they described as unjustified delays and the insistence on keeping the controversial special provision. They added that DMTCL alone will be responsible for any public inconvenience caused by the strike.
