Rejecting the Tk25 hike in daily wages, several hundred workers of various tea gardens blocked Airport Road in Sylhet on Sunday and refused to join work if the government did not raise it to Tk200.
Traffic movement came to halt in the city due to the two-hour blockade that began at noon.
Later, on the assurance of Sylhet district unit Awami League acting president Shafiqur Rahman Chowdhury, the workers left the spot and decided to continue the demonstration at Lakkatura Tea Garden's Durga temple.
They threatened to block the road again if their demands were not met within Monday.
Debashish Goala, the son of an agitating tea worker, said that the owners of the tea gardens had long been discriminating against them.
“They showed us mercy by increasing the daily wages from Tk120 to Tk145. We don't want anyone's mercy. We want our demands to be met. Such a meager pay is seen nowhere in the present era,” he claimed.
Till Saturday, when the wage was increased by Tk25, the workers had been demanding Tk300 during a series of demonstrations for over a week.
In Moulvibazar, workers of five tea gardens staged separate demonstrations in the district demanding Tk300 as daily wage for the ninth consecutive day.
Bangladesh Tea Workers Union Organizing Secretary Bijoy Hazra said they protested in several districts including Sylhet, Habiganj and Chittagong on Sunday.
After the meeting held at the office of the Sreemangal Divisional office of the Department of Labor in Moulvibazar on Saturday, some ordinary workers spoke against the withdrawal of the strike.
They announced that they would continue their protests if they did not get at least Tk200 in daily wages.
In an immediate reaction after the meeting, the workers of Malnicherra, Hiluachora and Tarapur tea gardens in Sylhet metropolis also rejected the decision and announced to continue their protest. A few hundred workers took out a protest march from Malnicherra garden around 4:30pm.
The deputy commissioner of Sylhet held a meeting with the labor leaders of Sylhet Valley on Saturday night due to the division over withdrawal of the strike.
DC Mujibur Rahman on Saturday night announced that the tea workers had agreed to join work out of respect for the prime minister.
In a video message on Saturday night, acting general secretary of the Central Committee of the Tea Workers Union Nipen Paul said: "We sat in a meeting with the Department of Labor in the afternoon. There we were offered an increase in our wages by Tk25 and we were requested to call off the strike saying that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will sit with us after she visits India [on September 6]. We called off the strike out of respect for the prime minister. But I didn't sign any contract accepting the increase by Tk25.”
He said: “After the meeting, I noticed that the common tea workers were outraged. They rejected the decision to increase the wages by Tk25 and want to continue the protesting. We also agree with them. So I have withdrawn my earlier decision. Our movement will thus continue.”
Meanwhile, some workers reportedly beat up the co-owner of the Jaflong tea plantation on Saturday night.
Manager Md Kamal Hossain claimed that the workers had beaten up seven to eight staff including Shamim Ahmed, the co-manager of his garden. “The workers confined me till 3am. They did not return to work until 11am,” he added.
On the other hand, Bangladesh Tea Association (BTA) on Wednesday said tea garden workers get wages and benefits amounting to at least Tk400 per day.
In addition to daily cash wages, they are given overtime, and allowances for annual leave, festival leave, sick leave, provident fund, and attendance totalling almost twice the average daily wage in cash.
The association said benefits amounting to Tk175 per day were being provided to the workers to ensure social development and civic benefits.
