10 weeks without pay: Thousands of tea industry workers face serious hardship

Fri Nov 22, 2024 2:00 PM Last Updated: Fri Nov 22, 2024 2:30 PM

Tea workers are staging demonstrations because they have not been paid for more than two months. Photo: Collected

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Tea workers are staging demonstrations because they have not been paid for more than two months. Photo: Collected

About 12,000 tea workers from 12 tea estates are facing severe difficulties due to non-payment of wages, which have been delayed for over 10 weeks.

National Tea Company (NTC) workers have been protesting in tea gardens for nearly two-and-a-half months over non-payment of wages. As a result, production in these gardens has stopped and workers, many of whom remain hungry, have been on strike for the past 4 weeks.

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Workers say they are unable to support their families due to unpaid wages. However, Garden authorities attributed the delay to the company’s financial difficulties, including significant debt problems.

NTC, a public limited company founded in 1978, is majority owned by the government (51 percent) and the remaining shares are publicly traded on the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges. The company owns 12 tea gardens located mainly in Moulvibazar, Habiganj and Sylhet.

NTC owes Bangladesh’s Krishi Bank Tk 380 crore, according to a senior government official familiar with the tea sector. Even though the company requested a loan of Tk 150 crore this year, the bank approved only Tk 8.6 crore. Some of the proceeds from tea sales are usually used to pay off debt, but workers are left without wages.

In Bangladesh, 12 tea plantations are owned by NTC, employing 11,286 people.

The workers say they have not been paid since August 26, but continued to work for free for almost two months after that.

The mother feeds the child rice soaked in water mixed with dried tea leaves powder as there is nothing else in the house. Rita Baraik and her husband Dhananjay both work at the tea party. They have had no work or income for the past few months. Photo: Mintu Deshwara

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Despite this compromise on the part of the workers, the authorities were unable to make payments.

As a result, workers have been on strike since October 11, having worked for six weeks without pay or rations.

The workers also held human chains, demanding overdue wages and rations.

Many workers describe the situation as inhumane, with families struggling to survive.

Tea worker Ohila Bauri, speaking on behalf of the protesters, expressed disappointment over the lack of clear information from the owners about payment of wages. She also stressed that while workers are still not being paid, garden managers and other staff are still being paid.

They further alleged that the company had failed to remit employee provident fund contributions to the concerned authorities.

The strike led to the closure of all 12 NTC tea factories, resulting in a halt in production and significant losses of tea leaves. The production delay is expected to impact the company’s annual tea production targets.

Nipen Paul, general secretary of the Bangladesh Tea Workers’ Union, highlighted the workers’ growing frustration. He noted that the workers were left with no choice but to go on strike as they were deprived of their basic means of livelihood.

Hossain Uddin, manager of Premnagar Tea Garden, attributed the delay in payment of wages to difficulties with a loan from Bangladesh’s Krishi Bank. However, he assured that efforts are being made to resolve the issue through negotiations with higher authorities.