Tea garden workers to continue protest for Tk300 wage
Tea workers of Sylhet have continued their strike for the ninth day in a row demanding an increase in daily wages from Tk120 to Tk300 and announced to continue their agitation until their demand is met.
On Sunday, tea workers blocked the Sylhet-Dhaka highway at Madhabpur in Habiganj for about four hours, which caused a long traffic jam.
"We will not leave the street until the wage is raised to Tk300," said Mosahid Ali, a worker of Sylhet's Ali Bahar tea garden, during the protest at the Sylhet Osmani Airport road on Sunday afternoon.
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At the end of the eighth day of the strike that started on 13 August, tea workers' leaders had a meeting with labour department representatives at the office of the divisional labour department of Srimangal in Moulvibazar on Saturday afternoon.
After the meeting, the labour leaders decided to call off the strike, however, common tea workers rejected the decision and expressed their anger by protesting such a decision taken by their leaders.
Later in the night, the labour union leaders announced the withdrawal of their decision and decided to continue the agitation.
Laskarpur Valley Tea Workers Union General Secretary Anuruddha Baraik told The Business Standard that if their demands are not met they will take to the streets again on 24 August.
In Sylhet city, tea workers blocked the Osmani Airport road for about an hour in the afternoon. Later, the blockade was lifted with the assurance of Awami League leaders. However, they continued their protest next to the mandap in the Malnichhara tea garden.
Kajal Hazra, worker of Malnichhara tea garden, said, "Today we have withdrawn our protest programme for the time being but if our demand is not fulfilled by today, we will block the road again from tomorrow morning."
However, Raju Goala, President of Sylhet Valley of Tea Workers' Union, said, "We also agree with the demands of the workers but outsiders have taken part in the protest. They are misleading the workers as a result workers are not listening to us. Any untoward incident may occur."
