Life beyond the green leaves
It is, indeed, a picture of tranquillity. Yet beneath that serene facade lies a harsh reality for the thousands of workers whose labour keeps the industry thriving.
Low wages, insecure land rights, inadequate housing, limited education and healthcare, and deep-rooted social discrimination have left generations of tea workers and their families living on the margins of deprivation.
The daily wage of a tea worker is currently only Tk 187, according to workers’ leaders, despite the rising cost of living.
“Currently, the daily wage of a tea worker is only 187 taka. Today, a family cannot survive on this wage,” said Ajit Roy Baraik, president of the Central Committee of Malnichara Tea Garden Workers and Tea Workers Unity.
According to government data, more than 20,000 tea workers live in Sadar, Jaintapur, Fenchuganj, Gowainghat and Kanaighat upazilas of Sylhet district alone.
Many workers are descendants of communities brought from different parts of India during the British colonial period and settled in the tea gardens.
Nearly 200 years later, they remain largely on the margins of mainstream society.
A significant section of the workforce belongs to communities including Santals, Oraons, Mundas and Ravidas.
Workers say they have long faced caste-based discrimination and are often derogatorily referred to as ‘coolies’ or lower castes.
Their distinct languages and cultural practices have also contributed to their social isolation.
Despite generations of residence in the gardens, many workers still do not own the land on which their homes stand.
They say the lack of secure land rights leaves families vulnerable to eviction.
Education and healthcare remain major concerns. Many gardens lack quality educational institutions, limiting children’s opportunities and forcing some to return to tea garden labour.
Poor and overcrowded living conditions also expose residents to malnutrition and various diseases, while medical facilities remain inadequate.
Government assistance has provided some relief. In the 2021-22 fiscal year, 3,932 tea workers in five upazilas of Sylhet received financial assistance, with around Tk 1 crore 96 lakh 60 thousand distributed among them.
Workers, however, say such support does not address their underlying problems.
Movement for rights
Frustration over wages and other grievances has recently intensified. Workers in 23 tea gardens have been demanding a daily wage of Tk 500, repeal of the 2023 wage-related gazette, elections to the Bangladesh Tea Workers Union and secure land rights.
In July, workers blocked the Sylhet-Tamabil highway as part of their movement.
On August 9, they staged a protest march and rally and submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner, giving the administration 15 days to act.
The workers later began observing an indefinite two-hour strike every day, from 9am to 11am, across Sylhet Valley, including Malnichara, Lakkatura, Burjan and Khadim tea gardens.
Ajit Roy Baraik said the workers had launched the movement to secure their basic rights, including the Tk 500 daily wage.
Saidul Rahman Sohel, a worker at Burjan Tea Garden, said the prolonged absence of elections to the Tea Workers Union had weakened workers’ ability to pursue their rights.
“Since the elections of the Tea Workers Union have not been held for a long time, committees are being run by those in charge in many gardens,” he said, calling for speedy elections and implementation of the four-point demands.
Raghu Das, a worker at Lakkatura Tea Garden, said the workers had been left with little choice but to strike.
“Therefore, we are now forced to observe a two-hour strike every day,” he said, warning that a continuous strike would begin if their demands were not met.
Raju Goala, president of the Sylhet Valley unit of the Tea Workers Union, said the workers’ main demand was protection of their fundamental rights.
Their other demands include repeal of the 2023 gazette, union elections and land rights.
Government response
Sylhet Deputy Commissioner Abdullah Al Mamun said the workers’ memorandum had been forwarded to the appropriate authorities.
He said the election of the Tea Workers Union, one of their key demands, was under process.
On August 14, senior tea workers’ union leaders met Labour and Employment and Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury and submitted an eight-point memorandum covering workers’ rights, land and living standards.
The minister said the Labour Ministry would form a special investigation team to assess conditions in the tea gardens.
The government would decide its next steps after receiving the team’s report and consulting all relevant stakeholders.
For Sylhet’s tea workers, however, the struggle goes beyond a wage dispute.
After nearly two centuries of labour behind the region’s iconic green landscape, they are demanding what they say should be basic rights: a decent wage, secure homes and land, access to essential services and dignity at work.
