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A delegation of university teachers conducting a work stoppage demanding the scrapping of the Prottoy pension scheme have expressed their satisfaction after talks with Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader, reports bdnews24.com.
The meeting started at the office of the Awami League president in Dhanmondi around 11:30am on Saturday.
After a one-and-a-half-hour meeting, Prof Nizamul Hoque Bhuiyan, the secretary general of the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers' Association, said:
"Our discussion was satisfactory and fruitful. We will talk the matter over with others of the federation and give our decision."
Asked why the discussion with the government was conducted at the political office, Prof Nizamul said:
"He [Obaidul Quader] is a government minister as well as the Awami League general secretary. He sat with us under instructions from the prime minister."
A delegation of 13 teacher leaders, including FBUTA Convenor Md Akhtarul Islam, Dhaka University Teachers’ Association General Secretary Prof Zeenat Huda, and DUTA Joint General Secretary Prof Md Abdur Rahim, met with Quader.
State Minister for Education Shamsun Naher and Awami League Office Secretary and Personal Secretary to the Prime Minister Biplab Barua were also in attendance alongside Quader.
As per the government’s previous announcement, the Prottoy pension scheme for government employees was launched on the first day of the current fiscal year 2024-25.
The teachers of public universities have been conducting a work stoppage from Jul 1 to protest the scheme because they fear their post-retirement financial benefits will be reduced if they are added to it.
The protesting FBUTA says the decision to include teachers in the Prottoy scheme is ‘discriminatory’ because under the old plan, money was not deducted from salaries to fund a pension, but under the new rules, 10 percent will be deducted from salaries. The Prottoy scheme also lacks some of the perks in the old system.
Under the old system, an employee and their nominee would receive a lifetime pension, which would be reduced under the Prottoy scheme. In addition, the old scheme provides a monthly medical allowance, two festival allowances, and a Boishakhi allowance, which are absent from the Prottoy scheme. It doesn’t have increments either.
The National Pension Authority has said that the teachers, officers and employees who joined the service before Jun 30 are not required to join the new scheme.