What owners claim is ‘misleading’

Philip Gain, director of Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD), has been researching tea workers for decades. He is the editor of the book "The Story of the Tea Workers in Bangladesh". Md Shahnawaz Khan Chandan of The Daily Star has talked to him about the ongoing crisis.

TDS: Tea workers have been continuing strikes since August 13. However, still their demands have not been met and the tea industry is also suffering from huge losses due to work abstention in the peak season. How are you seeing the future of this movement?

Philip Gain: Tea workers are some of the most marginalised, exploited and impoverished communities in Bangladesh. They have to stage protests every two or three years demanding wage increase. This year, their condition has become extremely bad due to severe inflation and price hike. Tea workers continued their work throughout the pandemic when all other industries were closed. These extremely low paid workers are the main force behind the booming tea industry. However, they have to stage protests for days to increase only Tk 20 to 40 in their daily wage. It will be totally unacceptable if BTA does not increase the daily wage to at least Tk 200 per day in this time of inflation.

TDS: The owners' association stated that the workers are getting Tk 402.88 worth of daily benefits which make their daily income even higher than some Indian tea gardens. What is your comment on that?

Philip Gain: BTA's calculation of the Tk 403 daily wages and benefits that it claims to give to workers is seriously flawed. According to sub-section 45 in section 2 of the Labour Law, it must exclude around half of what they are including as part of the "payment" from wage calculations, such as festival leave and sick leave. They cannot translate all the benefits they provide in-kind into monetary benefits. It's misleading.

India's minimum wage commission has increased wages of tea workers of Brahmaputra Valley up to Rs 232 and Barak Valley up to Rs 210. Auction price in Bangladesh is only 20-25 cents less than the international auction price. So, it is not appropriate to say that the industry will suffer massive losses if they increase workers' wages.

TDS: Tea workers are demanding the prime minister's intervention at present. Do you think the workers and owners will be able to reach a win-win situation?

Philip Gain: There will be a win-win situation if the owners increase their wage to at least Tk 200 per day. If the wage is increased up to this level, the lives of tea workers will be improved. Keeping the workers in miserable condition will not help the industry to flourish. And, it is really unfortunate that the prime minister herself has to intervene in this matter. Minimum wage board or the labour ministry could easily solve the crisis by negotiating with the owners. However, I hope that the prime minister will definitely find a solution so that tea-workers get their due rights.