TIB urges to fix logical wage for tea workers

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Tuesday urged to fix the logical wage for tea workers through dialogue instead of threats to stop the ongoing peaceful and lawful agitation.

This meager remuneration is discriminatory and unconstitutional against working for eight hours, sometimes or more, at a daily wage of only Tk 120 with few facilities, said a press release issued by TIB.

To solve the ongoing problem, the colonial mentality of the plantation owners should be avoided and the government should consider the tea workers as citizens of the country and take fair and humane initiatives, the release added.

Executive Director of TIB, Dr Iftekharuzzaman said, “According to a completely objective research-based analysis, taking into account all the facilities provided to the tea workers including housing, it can be safely said that the wages of tea workers are universal and discriminatory as compared to any other sector of the country. But this sector is economically very important.”

Meanwhile, despite several measures taken in recent years by the government and garden owners to improve the working environment and rights of the labourers, the living conditions of tea workers in the country are still not satisfactory.

With the aim to identify governance challenges regarding the working environment and workers’ rights in tea gardens, the findings of the study titled “Working Environment and Workers’ Rights in Tea Gardens: Governance Challenges and Way Forward” were unveiled at a press conference on 18 December 2018.