Tea workers at Kaliti Tea Garden in Bangladesh’s Moulvibazar district stopped work for an hour and staged a protest demanding a daily wage of Tk 500.
The demonstration, organized by the Tea Workers Trade Union Centre, began at 9 a.m. and included a procession along roads inside the garden in Kulaura upazila.
Protesters demanded cancellation of a recently gazetted 5 percent wage increase, land ownership rights for tea workers and elections to the Tea Workers’ Union, the collective bargaining agent.
Speakers said the increase raised the daily wage by Tk 8 to Tk 187, which they described as “inhuman” and “a mockery” of workers.
They said the amount remained insufficient to cover basic needs. Protesters also said many workers remain landless and lack basic public services despite their families living in the region for nearly 200 years.