The Tea Workers’ Union leaders at a meeting in Moulvibazar have demanded the fair wages and full festival bonus of the tea workers’ major religious festival ‘Phagua’.Â
They also urged the authorities to increase wages due to rising market prices at a meeting organised by the Moulvibazar District Committee at its temporary office in Shamshernagar on Sunday.
Presided over by Lakshmi Mani Bakti, organising secretary of the district committee, the meeting was attended by Bangladesh Trade Union Sangha Moulvibazar general secretary Ranjit Biswas, Dhrubotara Cultural Organisation general secretary Amolesh Sharma, Tea Workers’ Union Moulvibazar general secretary Harinarayan Hazra, among others.
Speakers at the meeting emphasised that according to agreements with tea estate owners and the government’s minimum wage gazette for the tea industry, all tea workers will receive a festival bonus of Tk 3,713 for Phagua.
But, some tea garden authorities, however, are attempting to replace the festival bonus with an attendance-based incentive, which the union strongly opposes.
The tea workers’ leaders reiterated that the festival bonus should be equal for all workers and not be linked to attendance records, demanding the festival bonus must be paid to all workers by March 13, ahead of the Phagua celebrations.
Expressing frustration over their daily wage of only Tk 178.50, the tea workers have stressed that it is inadequate for the soaring cost of living.
Many tea workers struggle with hunger and poverty, yet their hard work contributed to the highest tea exports in the past seven years in 2024. Despite this, many tea estates, including 12 state-owned National Tea Company gardens, as well as many estates in Moulvibazar, Sylhet and Habiganj are delaying wage payments.
Additionally, many estates have not deposited workers’ provident fund contributions, they mentioned.
Union leaders also highlighted that the 2023–2024 wage period had already ended without any wage increases, and no revision was announced for the 2025–2026 period.
Currently, a worker’s weekly ration consists of only 3.27kg of rice or flour, which is insufficient to sustain a family.
The union leaders also called for an organised movement to press the demand for fair wages, adequate rations, land rights, annual leave, and democratic labour laws to ensure fair treatment.
