Panelists at an event on Thursday said that tea garden workers are facing discrimination in many aspects, including salaries and protection. As the demand for tea consumption inside and outside of the country is declining, such discrimination will put the entire industry at risk.
The roundtable, “Bangladesh Tea Industry; Current Challenges and Future Pathways”, was held at Dhaka.
The event was organized by Dhaka Tribune in a collaboration with Oxfam in Bangladesh supported by the European Union and co-organized by Procehsta, Ethnic community development organisation (ECDO), Reliant Women Development organization (RWDO), and Breaking the Silence (BTS).
Dr Meghna Guhathakurta presented the keynote at the discussion. According to her presentation, 93% of tea garden workers do not have appointment letters in the gardens. She said that many of them do not have breaks for snacks or toilet-related issues.
Guhathakurta mentioned that 63% of the workers face health risks and there are also several occupational hazards, including dust, insect bites, snake bites and bacterial infection.
The tea industry in Bangladesh plays a pivotal socio-economic role, providing extensive employment, especially for women and contributing to national production and exports. With 167 tea estates and a large number of female workers, this sector is essential to women’s economic empowerment. Alongside low wages, tea workers face challenges in terms of rights and long-term prospects. While tea production has increased in Bangladesh, concerns remained about declined quality and stagnant prices due to many internal and external challenges.
Lauran Paula Bush, chief of staff of London Tea Exchange, said: “The sad thing is that the situation of Bangladesh is not unique. All tea-production countries are dealing with the same issue. There is an opportunity for Bangladesh to pave the way for other countries.”
She said sustainable business can be a solution to the problem. “We believe Bangladesh has a great opportunity to create a sustainable industry”.
Sheikh Aliur Rahman, group chairman and founder of the Global Fair Pay Charter of London Tea Exchange, said: “The tea industry resonates with the empire. It’s a sad thing. It was not designed for people.”
He added: “It was not designed for protecting human rights, it was designed for slavery. We inherited this. That’s what we inherited. Thus, there are issues of culture.”
Rahman said: “The workers are not asking for a big villa or bungalow, they just want two meals a day and their dignity.”
Rahman stressed the pricing of tea is dictated by a syndicate. It’s never going to change, and the owners and workers are suffering, he added.
Mahmuda Sultana, Program Director of Oxfam, said: “We need to ensure multispectral programming for the development of the living conditions of the tea garden workers.”
“Although many facilities are being implemented—we also have to look at the functionality as well,” she added.
“Thus, we need to work on behavioral changes,” she continued.
Dhaka Tribune Editor Zafar Sobhan said: “The well-being of the workers is the heart of the discussion. We also want to look at the current challenges and future paths. We can really put right and support the tea workers in this discussion, and all the stakeholders are here. We have a golden opportunity.
According to the panelists, multiple factors need to be addressed to make the industry sustainable.
Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, chairman of the Labour Reform Commision, said, ‘Firstly, tea sector should announce as Agro. Also, we should think about initiating tea commission again.’
A H M Shafiquzzaman, secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, said, “If supply and demand do not match, we will not get the expected price. The wage that has been increased is not enough.’
He also said, ‘The tea sector can be privatization to ensure workers social safety net. Also, model tea garden should develop and those could be replicate if it is successful.’
Ponkoj Kondo, vice president of Bangladesh Cha Sromik Union, said that a tea garden worker needs to vacate his or her allocated house upon retirement.
“To make a nation self-sufficient, housing is very important and we do not have that,” he said.
Ponkoj Kondo also talked about the transparency of the unions and the owners.
Radhika Goyala, joint secretary of Amra Parbo Nari o Kishori Network, said: “We are working with women and adolescent females tea workers to ensure our rights. In some cases, we were successful in ensuring allowance for elderly persons or the government stipend.”
Ashish Damle, country director of Oxfam in Bangladesh, delivered the closing remarks.
Vice president of Bangladesh Cha Sromik Union Poresh Kalindi, Chairman of Bangladesh Tea Association Kamran Tanvirur Rahman, Executive Director of Breaking The Silence (BTS) Roksana Sultana, Executive Director of Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) Shaheen Anam, Resource Mobilisation Associate of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) M Tanjim Hasan Khan, among others, also spoke on the occasion.
