Striking tea workers in Bangladesh returned to their jobs after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hiked daily wages. Photo Sreemangal Tea Estate by Adobe iStock.
Bangladesh tea workers ended a nationwide strike after the prime minister ordered garden owners to increase daily wages by 50 takas.
Workers will receive 170 takas, about $1.78, per day, after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met with growers on August 27. The minimum daily wage is currently 120 takas, about $1.26.
Neither tea workers nor growers are entirely happy with the compromise. Workers sought an increase to 300 takas ($3.00 per day), citing steep increases in the cost of food and fuel. Growers said that rising costs for inputs and low prices jeopardize operations at a third of the nation’s 167 commercial tea gardens having a combined 280,000 acres, or 113,000 hectares, under tea.
Raju Goala, president of Tea Sangsad of Sylhet Valley, told the Business Standard, "We are happy with the Prime Minister's decision. She has understood our grief and increased the wage."
A worker at Lakkatura Tea Garden told the newspaper, “I am not happy with this hike. But if all workers return to work, I will have to join them too.”
Registered workers will be compensated retroactively to the expiry date of the previous contract. Allowances for festivals and medical expenses are tied to the minimum wage, amplifying the impact. In addition to a daily wage, workers receive 10 kilograms of rations, mainly grain, per week.
Work slowdowns that began on August 9 expanded to a national strike, with protests at government buildings and tea gardens in several regions, including Sylhet, Chattogram Hills, Habiganj, and Moulvibazar.
Nearly 150,000 frustrated workers sought a 150% wage increase. Bangladesh Cha Sramik Union (BCSU), which represents 100,000 tea workers, organized the four-day slowdown.
Bangladesh Tea Workers' Union representative Sitaram Bin told The Hindu that the union called a full-scale strike after the government failed to intervene. During two years when Covid-19 delayed negotiations, plantation owners agreed to increase wages to 145 takas daily, but workers never received the increase. The Bangladesh Tea Association said the rising cost of fuel, fertilizer, and chemical inputs exceeds earnings at many gardens, and they cannot afford a significant increase in daily wages.
Bangladesh is the world’s 10th largest tea-producing region, at 96 million kilograms of mainly CTC (cut, tear, curl) in grades that have little pricing power. With a per-capita consumption of 580 grams, almost all of the tea produced is consumed locally.
One assistant manager at a garden that produces 1.5 million kilograms annually estimated that 60 of the 167 gardens would fail if the government took the worker's side and higher wages prevailed.
The assistant manager said intervals between plucking rounds, typically 7 to 8 days, are now at 13 to 15 days, after 2,500 field and factory workers participated in the slowdown.
The public mood in Bangladesh is restless, as people face spiraling prices in 25 of 26 essential items. Foreign debts total $62 billion, and reserves are declining, forcing the government to secure $6.5 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. As a result, the price of natural gas, which provides 60% of the country's energy, is up 23%. In mid-August, prices for kerosene and petrol reached record highs.