EXPORT earnings from tea gardens in the country have been progressively on the rise amid allegations of gross violations of tea workers’ rights. About 2,600 tea garden workers of Burjan Tea Company blocked the Sylhet Airport Highway on May 4 for several hours, demanding their wage arrears and allowances. Protesting workers reported that their wages and food allowances have not been paid for more than 20 weeks and they are spending days in severe hardship with no food to feed their children. The district commissioner’s office provided some food relief but so far has failed to ensure that the workers’ wage arrears are paid. When the tea garden workers barely survive on their daily wage, which was raised to Tk 170 from Tk 120 in 2022, the non-payment for weeks makes their survival nearly impossible. In this situation, mere assurance from the union officials that they will look into the matter only demonstrates the government’s years of indifference towards the plight of tea garden workers.
The irregular payment of wages, employment benefits and arbitrary withdrawal of festival allowances is, rather, characteristic of the tea industry. In March, tea garden workers in Maulvibazar demanded that their festival allowance for Phagua, a major festival for the tea workers’ community, be paid in full and in due time against the arbitrary decision to replace the festival allowance with an attendance-based incentive. In July 2023, workers at Imam and Bhabani Tea Garden went on strike with five-point demands that included the payment of their wages and festival allowance, the reimbursement of the provident fund, and ensuring their house rent and medical allowances. There are loopholes in laws and regulations that allow garden owners to make such arbitrary decisions and withhold workers’ festival allowances or severance payments. Tea workers do not receive 5 per cent of the net profit of the previous year of the company they work for, as specified by the Labour Act and the Workers’ Welfare Foundation Act. Rarely are any actions taken by the authorities against such gross violations of labour law.
The government must, therefore, take initiatives to protect the rights of tea garden workers. The labour ministry should take immediate steps to address the specific concerns of the tea workers of Burjan Tea Company and ensure early payment of their wage arrears and other dues. The labour law must be revisited to ensure that garden owners pay workers’ wages in due time and cannot make arbitrary decisions to deny or withhold festival allowance or severance payment and that tea garden workers’ wages are revisited at the earliest.
