No money to buy rice: National Tea Company workers struggle to survive
The workers haven't been paid since 5 August, when National Tea Company Chairman Sheikh Kabir Ahmed and other directors went into hiding following Hasina's fall
In the lush hills of Sylhet, the workers at the National Tea Company (NTCL) gardens, including those at the Daldali and Lakkatura tea estates, are facing a dire situation.
For the past three months, the workers have received no wages.
Some are surviving on handouts from local authorities, while others are relying on leaves and vegetables from the gardens they work to feed their families.
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As wages remain unpaid, the workers are left wondering how they will make it through another day.
Sitting in the shade of a tree near the Daldali Tea Garden, Subal Nayek, a worker of the estate, said, "I don't have money to buy rice. I couldn't buy any vegetables in the past month because I didn't have the money. And I haven't eaten fish for a long time."
Nayek explained that while the tea garden authorities provide some flour every week, it is hardly enough to sustain families.
"The district commissioner (DC) gave us some rice, and I gathered wild leaves and vegetables from the garden to eat. That's all we can manage. It's a struggle, but we're somehow surviving," he said.
Nayek is not alone in this suffering. Tea workers across the 18 tea gardens owned by NTC in Sylhet, Moulvibazar, and Habiganj districts are facing similar hardships.
These gardens, which account for 7% of Bangladesh's total tea production, have stopped paying workers' wages for three months. With a daily wage of just Tk170, the workers were already finding it difficult to get by, let alone save anything for the future.
The situation is just as grim in the Lakkatura Tea Garden, another NTC-owned estate. Anita Lohar, a female worker in the garden, said, "I ate bread last night. This morning, I boiled some taro leaves for breakfast. I don't know if I will have anything to eat tonight.
"There's nothing left in the house, and even the shops won't give us anything on credit anymore," she added.
Subal Monda, an elderly working at Lakkatura Tea Garden for nearly 30 years said he had never experienced anything like this before.
"There had been problems with wages in the past, but never before has the payment been delayed for three consecutive months. This is the first time I've seen such a situation," he said.
Monda added, "We work for very little money. The wages we get are barely enough to sustain a family. As a result, we have never been able to save. With wages stopped for three months, we are all struggling to make ends meet. Many of us are only eating once a day."
For workers like Ayesha Begum, the situation is even more difficult.
"We can manage to go without food, but the real worry is for our children," she said.
"I have two sons in school, and their exams are coming up. But I haven't been able to pay their exam fees. Every day, they come home from school and cry because they know they can't sit for their exams without the fee," she said.
The workers' plight is worsened by the fact that they are unable to find work elsewhere. Biren Singh, president of the Bangladesh Tea Workers Federation in Sylhet, explained that no one outside the tea garden hires the workers as they believe they will return to the garden when it reopens.
"This is the excuse they use to avoid hiring tea workers, even for domestic work. So, there's almost no opportunity for them to earn outside the gardens," Singh said.
On 5 August, following the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government, NTC Chairman Sheikh Kabir Ahmed and other directors went into hiding, which resulted in the non-payment of wages.
NTC officials explained that workers' wages are transferred through the Krishi Bank, but since they have not received funds from the bank, the wages have not been paid.
According to Raju Goyala, president of the Bangladesh Tea Workers Union in Sylhet Valley, the three NTC-owned tea estates in Sylhet, including Lakkatur, Keowachhra, and Daldali, employ around 1,180 workers.
About 100,000 people, including family members, in the region are now facing severe hardships.
"After wages were stopped, workers continued working until 20 October. But without food at home, how could they keep working? That's why they stopped working on 21 October. Since then, all NTC-owned gardens have effectively been shut down," Goyala said.
Even the workers who managed to get work outside are struggling.
Rambhajan Kairi, a former general secretary of the Tea Workers Union, revealed that more than 80% of the NTC garden workers cannot afford three meals a day.
"Only 20% of the families are managing because some of their members work outside the gardens or in lemon plantations," Kairi explained.
A ray of hope: Payment of arrears
After three months of uncertainty, the workers finally got some hope as the National Tea Company agreed to pay the workers' arrears in instalments, with the first instalment scheduled to be paid on Thursday (5 December).
This decision was reached during a tripartite meeting between NTC, tea workers, and employees at the Department of Labor's office in Moulvibazar on Sunday evening (1 December).
The meeting concluded that starting on Thursday, two weeks' worth of the workers' six-week wage arrears will be paid, along with one month's salary for monthly wage workers.
The remaining four weeks of arrears will be paid in instalments by 31 March. Additionally, it was agreed that from December onwards, weekly wages will be paid regularly.
Syed Mahmud Hasan, the managing director of NTC, said, "Due to a lack of funds, we haven't been able to pay the workers' wages until now. But with the government's intervention, the deadlock has been resolved, and we will begin paying the workers' arrears in instalments. The first instalment will be paid by Thursday."
Raju Goyala, leader of the Tea Workers Union, added, "Once the first instalment of the arrears is paid, the workers will return to work."
