[Bangladesh] 150,000 tea workers strike to demand a pay rise

On August 13, around 150,000 workers from more than 200 tea plantations in Bangladesh went on strike to demand a 150 per cent increase to their one dollar daily wages, Al Mayadeen reports.

The current wage is one of the lowest in the world according to researchers. The majority of tea workers in the overwhelmingly Muslim country are low-caste Hindus; descendants of labourers brought to the plantations by colonial-era British planters.

One worker told AFP that the tiny wage was barely enough to buy food, let alone other basic necessities. "Today, we can't even afford brown rice for our family with this amount," Anjana Bhuyian (50) said. "A wage of one day can't buy a litre of edible oil. How can we then even think about our nutrition, medication, or children's education?"

Unions are demanding an increase to take the wage to 300 takas a day, in the wake of rising inflation and the currency depreciating. Workers in Bangladesh's 232 tea gardens began a full-scale strike on August 13, following four days of two-hour stoppages.

"Nearly 150,000 tea workers have joined the strike today," Sitaram Bin - a committee member of the Bangladesh Tea Workers' Union - told AFP. "No tea worker will pluck tea leaves or work in the leaf processing plants as long as the authority doesn't pay heed to our demands." 

Tea workers live in some of the country's most remote areas. Researchers say they have been systematically exploited by the industry for decades. 

"Tea workers are like modern-day slaves," Philip Gain - director of the Society for Environment and Human Development, a research group, that has written books on tea workers - said. "The plantation owners have hijacked the minimum wage authorities and kept the wages some of the lowest in the world."

Bangladesh numbers among the poorest nations in the world and has long been seen as a free-for-all for international capital. The ruling gangsters reportedly do not care for the lives and working conditions of ordinary people.

In recent history, this has resulted in a long list of tragedies, as the lives of workers were carelessly put at risk.

In 2022, the Dhaka Tribute reported that at least 2,000 workers have died in 26 fires over the last 20 years. 

In 2021, Bangladeshi child labourers were burned alive in a factory fire. And more than 1,100 garment workers were reportedly killed in the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse, the deadliest industrial accident in Bangladesh’s history. They have still not received justice.

Source: Al Mayadeen

(Links and quotes via original reporting)

On August 13, around 150,000 workers from more than 200 tea plantations in Bangladesh went on strike to demand a 150 per cent increase to their one dollar daily wages, Al Mayadeen reports.

The current wage is one of the lowest in the world according to researchers. The majority of tea workers in the overwhelmingly Muslim country are low-caste Hindus; descendants of labourers brought to the plantations by colonial-era British planters.

One worker told AFP that the tiny wage was barely enough to buy food, let alone other basic necessities. "Today, we can't even afford brown rice for our family with this amount," Anjana Bhuyian (50) said. "A wage of one day can't buy a litre of edible oil. How can we then even think about our nutrition, medication, or children's education?"

Unions are demanding an increase to take the wage to 300 takas a day, in the wake of rising inflation and the currency depreciating. Workers in Bangladesh's 232 tea gardens began a full-scale strike on August 13, following four days of two-hour stoppages.

"Nearly 150,000 tea workers have joined the strike today," Sitaram Bin - a committee member of the Bangladesh Tea Workers' Union - told AFP. "No tea worker will pluck tea leaves or work in the leaf processing plants as long as the authority doesn't pay heed to our demands." 

Tea workers live in some of the country's most remote areas. Researchers say they have been systematically exploited by the industry for decades. 

"Tea workers are like modern-day slaves," Philip Gain - director of the Society for Environment and Human Development, a research group, that has written books on tea workers - said. "The plantation owners have hijacked the minimum wage authorities and kept the wages some of the lowest in the world."

Bangladesh numbers among the poorest nations in the world and has long been seen as a free-for-all for international capital. The ruling gangsters reportedly do not care for the lives and working conditions of ordinary people.

In recent history, this has resulted in a long list of tragedies, as the lives of workers were carelessly put at risk.

In 2022, the Dhaka Tribute reported that at least 2,000 workers have died in 26 fires over the last 20 years. 

In 2021, Bangladeshi child labourers were burned alive in a factory fire. And more than 1,100 garment workers were reportedly killed in the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse, the deadliest industrial accident in Bangladesh’s history. They have still not received justice.

Source: Al Mayadeen

(Links and quotes via original reporting)