Nearly 150,000 workers from more than 200 tea plantations in Bangladesh went on strike on Saturday. They are demanding a 150% increase in their $1-a-day wage, one of the lowest in the world, according to researchers.
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Most tea plantation workers in Bangladesh, a predominantly Muslim country, are lower-caste Hindus whose ancestors were brought to these farms by British colonial-era planters.
The minimum wage for a tea plantation worker in the country is 120 taka a day – around $1.25 at official rates, but just over a dollar on the open market.
Modern day slaves
A worker explained that this was barely enough to buy food, let alone other necessities.
Unions are demanding a wage increase to 300 takas a day in the face of rampant inflation and currency depreciation. Workers at 232 tea plantations began a full-scale strike on Saturday following carrying out two-hour work stoppages for four days.
“Almost 150,000 (industry) tea workers joined the strike today,” said Sitaram Bin, a member of the Bangladesh Tea Workers’ Union.
“No workers will pick tea leaves or work in the leaf processing factories until the authorities comply with our demands,” he told AFP.
“Tea workers are sort of modern-day slaves,” observed Philip Gain, director of the research group “Society for Environment and Human Development”, author of several books on these workers.
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