Bangladesh tea workers are on strike since nearly two weeks. They want a rise in daily wages to counter rising inflation.
They say the current daily wage – 120 taka (about $1.25) – was barely enough to buy food, let alone other necessities such as health and education.
“Nowadays, we can’t even afford coarse rice for our family with this amount,” Anjana Bhuyian, a tea plucker, told the AFP news agency.
“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?” the 50-year-old said.
Many people in the nation of 160m have turned to the strikes of tea workers as a rallying cry, as rising inflation is fueling frustration at low wages.
After fuel prices increased by more that 50 percent two weeks earlier, thousands marched on the streets.
Sunday’s protesters blocked the Sylhet–Dhaka highway, as they escalated their strike.
What are they asking?
The workers’ union is demanding a 150 percent (300 taka or $3.15 a day) rise in their daily wages. Tea garden workers are amongst those who earn the least in the country.
“Nearly 150,000 tea workers have joined the strike today,” said Sitaram Bin, a committee member of the Bangladesh Tea Workers’ Union, on August 13.
“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,” he told AFP.
The union has rejected the government’s latest offer of a 25 cents per day wage increase.
What do plantation owners have to say?
After an 18-taka increase last year and a 14-taka increase this year, plantation owners offered to increase their daily income by offering 14 taka per day.
They claim they are experiencing difficult times, with profits falling in recent years.
“In reality, what they are saying is not right. We provide a medical plan, retirement benefit, weekly rations, and access to primary education for children. It all adds up to around $4 a day,” Mohammed Mohsin, Tea Garden Owners Association, told Al Jazeera.
M Shah Alom, chairman of the Bangladesh Tea Association, said operators were “going through difficult times, with profit declining in recent times”.
“The cost of production is increasing. Our expenses have increased as the price of gas, fertiliser and diesel have gone up,” he told AFP.
Tea plantation in Bangladesh
Nearly 150,000 people work in more than 200 Bangladeshi tea plantations. Most of them are located in the Sylhet area in northern Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is one of the world’s largest tea producers, exporting tea to more than 20 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
Tea pickers, who are mainly women, work long hours and make some of the lowest wages in this country.
Low-caste Hindus make up the majority of tea workers, and are descendants of colonial-era British planters who brought them to tea plantations in the 19th century.
Luchee Kandu is married to a planter. They claim that little has changed in the lives of tea workers over the years.
“We hardly get any type of facilities, don’t have enough money for our children’s education, we barely get 3kg flour as ration once a week. Some days we don’t even get to eat, which is why we are protesting,” Kundu told Al Jazeera in Srimongal, known as Bangladesh’s tea capital.
Another tea picker, Shamoli Bhuyia, told Al Jazeera: “The owners don’t understand our plight. We have been demanding our daily wage be raised to $3 a day, then we will go back to work.”
Workers’ exploitation
Researchers say tea workers – who live in some of the country’s remotest areas – have been systematically exploited by the industry for decades.
According to the United Nations they are considered one of the most marginalized in the country with limited access and education.
“Tea workers are like modern-day slaves,” said Philip Gain, director of the Society for Environment and Human Development research group, who has written books on tea workers.
“The plantation owners have hijacked the minimum wage authorities and kept the wages some of the lowest in the world.”
Additional reporting by Tanvir Choudhury, Srimongal
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