Press Statement

Solve the labour dispute at Swarnavahini immediately

21 Mar, 2019

Employees of the Swarnavahini media institute have formally established a trade union. After formal prior notice to the administration, they held a union meeting at the vehicle yard in the institutional premises during the lunch hour break on March 18, 2019.

A group of officials of the management enraged with the forming of the union has sacked 15 employees who lead the union with immediate effect.

It is reported that around 80 percent of the all category of employees of the institute had obtained the membership of the union in order to ensure their job security.

The Federation of Media Employees’ Trade Union vehemently condemn the action by the management officials of the Swarnavahini to suppress its employees giving callous disregard to the fundamental rights of its employees to form a union and hold the management accountable for the ongoing crisis situation there.

The FMETU resolutely requests the management of Swarnavahini to respect the fundamental rights of its employees and to reinstate the 15 employees who had been sacked immediately without paving the way for the further worsening of the dispute.

The FMETU is a federation of unions representing journalists and media workers. Our federation holds the full membership of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) representing around 600,000 journalists in 154 countries across the world.