Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will hold an online meeting on Saturday with tea workers of Patrokhola tea garden in Kamalganj upazila of Moulvibazar over the recent increase in their daily wage.
Moulvibazar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Mir Nahid Ahsan disclosed the matter on Thursday following a meeting of the district administration with tea workers union, public representatives and officials of departments concerned.
The DC said the workers of Patrokhola tea garden would join the main meeting, while workers from other estates would watch it on projectors.
The prime minister would exchange views with workers from Moulvibazar, Sylhet, Habiganj and Chittagong, he added.
The workers of the country’s 241 tea plantations went on an indefinite strike from August 9 demanding that they be paid Tk300 a day instead of Tk120.
On August 20, after a meeting with the Labour Department, tea workers’ union leaders withdrew their indefinite strike after assurances of a Tk25 raise.
However, later in the day, general tea workers rejected the wage hike fixed by the government and vowed to continue their movement.
After holding meetings with tea garden owners and other stakeholders in the past two weeks, the tea workers’ union agreed to the resumption of work and get Tk120 as wages for the time being, but that was rejected by the general workers again.
Then on Saturday, the daily pay of tea pickers was increased by Tk50 to Tk170. The Tk50 increase was fixed in a meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and a 13-member delegation of tea garden owners. Annual leave allowance, festival leave with pay and sick leave would also increase proportionately, Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus said at the time.
