PM holding talks with tea garden owners at Ganabhaban

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is holding talks with the representatives of tea plantation workers and owners at Ganabhaban in the capital.

The talks began on Saturday afternoon.

The Prime Minister is holding talks as the workers at the country’s 167 tea plantations continued their indefinite strike for the 19th day on Friday for raising their wages to Tk 300 from Tk 120.

The workers abstained from work, but they did not stage any demonstrations, said Deorachra Tea Garden Panchayat Committee President Subod Kurmi.

Besides, Panchayat committee meetings in 92 plantations of Moulvibazar district were held on Friday night where further steps to press for the pay hike were discussed.

The movement started on August 9, when workers from tea gardens across the country abstained from work for two hours, demanding Tk 300 as daily wages. As their demand was not met, they decided to go on a full-scale strike from August 13.

After holding meetings with tea garden owners and other stakeholders in the past two weeks, the tea workers’ union agreed to the resumption of work from Monday and got Tk 120 as wages for the time being, but that was rejected by the general workers.