Michael Nongrum, Juri (Moulvibazar)

Tea workers have gone on an indefinite strike at Juri in Moulvibazar demanding that their daily wages be increased from Tk 120 to Tk 300. The strike started Saturday from 12 noon on the call of Bangladesh Tea Workers Union. At this time, they blocked the Juri-Barlekha regional highway at various places.

On Saturday, the tea workers union called a strike demanding an increase in wages from Tk 120 to Tk 300 across the country. Workers of 167 tea gardens in the country, including 92 tea gardens in Moulvibazar, are on strike. Before this, they observed a strike for two days and two hours from last Tuesday.

From this morning, the workers in various tea gardens of the upazila, instead of picking tea leaves and joining the work in the tea factory, took a stand on the regional highway and factory area. During this time, they blocked the road and held a protest rally and demonstration. Along with the tea workers, the leaders of the tea workers union were present.

In the gathering, the tea workers said that the weekend is Sunday and the next two days are mourning days. If they do not meet the demand of 300 taka in those two days, they will go on an indefinite strike again from Tuesday.

Talking to the workers, it is known that according to the agreement made by the tea workers' union, "Bangladesh Tea Workers Union'' the tea garden owners' organization, the Bangladeshi Tea Parliament, the tea workers' wages and other facilities are determined.

This agreement is supposed to be executed every two years. The last bilateral agreement was executed on January 1, 2019. In that agreement, the daily wage of the workers was fixed tk at 120. Later there was no new agreement.

Recently, the Bangladeshi Tea Parliament proposed to increase the wages by Tk 14 in discussions with the leaders of the tea workers union. But the leaders rejected this proposal. On August 1, the central committee of the Tea Workers Union sent a letter to the Bangladeshi Tea Parliament regarding the determination of workers' wages at Tk 300 and the fulfillment of other demands.

The letter stipulated a seven-day time frame to accept the demand. But as the demands were not met within this period, the organization decided to strike for an indefinite period.

Komol Chandra Bunarjee, President of Juri Valley Committee of Tea Workers Union, said that an indefinite strike is being observed in a total of 36 Tea gardens of Juri, Barlekha and Kulaura upazilas under their jurisdiction.

This program will continue until the demand is met.৷ He said that the price of daily commodities is increasing in the country every day.

Affordability has gone beyond the reach of tea workers. The daily wage of Tk 120 does not support our stomach. Several meetings have been held with the plantation owners regarding the increase in wages.

Although the wages are supposed to be increased every year, the wages are not being increased for the last 3 years due to various arguments.