Give tea workers equal rights: Experts urge govt
They made the call during a stakeholders’ meeting titled Legal Reform for The Tea Sector Workers, organised by the Solidarity Center in a hotel in Dhaka’s Topkhana area
Labour experts today (31 October) called upon the authorities concerned to reform sections of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006, to safeguard accommodation, gratuity and casual leave of tea workers.
They made the call during a stakeholders' meeting titled Legal Reform for The Tea Sector Workers, organised by the Solidarity Center in a hotel in Dhaka's Topkhana area.
Speaking at the event, former BCSU general secretary Ram Bhajan Kairi said, "It is a discriminatory law that all workers are not eligible for gratuity. If the government tells the sins for which tea workers don't get this right, then they would be convinced. We all need to come forward to reform or scrape, if necessary, all the sections that deliberately exclude tea workers from exercising rights that other sector workers do. These are oppressive laws."
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Solidarity Center deputy country program director Monika Hartsel said, "Though tea workers are covered under the Bangladesh Labor Act, they do not enjoy the same protections as workers in other industries. In the spirit of the non-discrimination movement, it's a chance to think more broadly about the most marginalised groups of workers."
Solidarity Country Program Director AKM Nasim said, "Tea sector workers have been historically neglected by all. Discussions and work concerning tea workers are often sporadic and isolated. There is a pressing need for comprehensive engagement with the tea workers, addressing all aspects of their lives and livelihoods. This approach must also consider making the tea industry a sustainable and vibrant sector."
Other recommendations made at the event were the reformation of Section 28 of BLA on pensions to ensure gratuity for tea workers, reformation of Section 115 of BLA on casual leave, reformation of Section 117 on earned leave, reformation of Section 32 of BLA on eviction to ensure tea workers; accommodation, the inclusion of Bangladesh Cha Sramik Union representatives to labour law reformation committee and national tripartite advisory commission, securing rights of permanent and temporary tea workers, presentation of proper calculation of tea workers' minimum wage, the inclusion of elected tea union representative to safety committee, ensuring basic needs of tea workers including healthcare during the closure of a tea garden and implementation of agreements through collective bargaining between Bangladesh Cha Sramik Union and Bangladesh Tea Association.
At the event, BILS Executive Director Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed said, "Wage has been a settled issue since the days of slavery. Tea, being a two-hundred-year-old industry, still hasn't settled this issue. Workers cannot bear the burden of employers or the government's failure to conduct commerce. We must end the vicious practice of a tea worker's children becoming tea workers. Other than that, their life will never improve."
Other panellists in the event were Nripen Paul, acting general secretary of Bangladesh Cha Sramik Union (BCSU), Poresh Kalindi, BCSU treasurer, Joint Secretary of labour ministry Raza Mia, Deputy Secretary of commerce ministry Tarafdar Sohel Rahman, Joint Inspector General of Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment Mahfujur Rahman Bhuiyan, Bangladesh Labor Bar Association General Secretary Mohsin Mojumder, Tahsin Ahmed Chowdhury, convener of Bangladesh Tea Association Labor Committee, and Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmmed, executive director of Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies.
