Tea workers’ strike for better pay continues

Tea workers in Bangladesh have continued the indefinite strike for higher wages as the price of daily essentials skyrocketed.

Since August 9, thousands of workers at 167 tea estates across Bangladesh have been holding rallies and strikes for two hours a day to demand an increase in their wages.

“The prices of daily necessities have increased. We cannot buy two kilograms of rice with the 117-120 taka ($1.26) we get daily. How will we survive? We are striking to increase our wages,” said Sangkor Kairi, a Catholic worker at Luhaiuni Tea Garden in the Moulvibazar district.

“We work yet do not have enough money. We are still working on this wage like slaves. But now our backs are against the wall, we are demanding a daily wage of at least 300 taka,” said Kairi, who lives in two rooms with his five-member family.

Every two years, the plantation owner increases the wage through an agreement with the tea workers. But the owner has been paying the same amount for the past 43 months. They have been discussing how much their pay will be increased for almost 19 months.

Pankoj Kondo, vice-president of the Bangladesh Tea Labor Union, feels that there is no decision in this long discussion, no increase in wages and at the same time the excessive price hike of commodities has caused intense anger among the tea workers.

“We who work as the representatives of the tea workers are now under the wrath of the workers because the owners are not increasing their wages and we are also unable to protect the interests of the workers. Now, after such a situation among the workers, I will support the agitation,” Kondo told UCA News.

Kondo, a Catholic, said if there is no satisfactory decision from the owners by today, the workers will ramp up their agitation.

Bangladesh has about 100,000 registered workers and 30,000 temporary workers on 167 tea estates, according to the Bangladesh Tea Board. The entire tea worker community is estimated to be around half a million.

About 74 percent of tea workers live in poverty, according to a 2018 study by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). The rate is much higher than the national poverty rate of 21.8 reported by the BBS in the same year.

The rising prices of daily essentials are making matters worse; the price of rice is 55-75 taka per kilogram, soybean oil is 190 taka per liter and pulses are 110 taka per kilogram.

“Tea workers are still living like slaves, their wages are never commensurate with the present. I fully support their movement,” said Oblate Father Joseph Gomes, a parish priest and coordinator of the Oblate-run Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation.

“The Church works for justice and peace but is not directly associated with any movement. We work to educate the sons and daughters of the tea workers and they are and will continue to work directly for their rights,” Father Gomes told UCA News.

“The owners of the tea plantations are very powerful, so the government should come forward to ensure justice for the tea workers,” he added.

However, when the tea garden owners were contacted, they refused to comment on the matter.

“We are continuing discussions with the labor leaders, hopefully, we can reach a solution very soon. But the strike movement is not a solution,” said Golam Mohammad Shibli, general manager of the Sylhet branch of the Bangladeshi Tea Association, the apex body.