EU ambassador visits labour line, condemns extreme low wages to tea workers

EU ambassador visits labour line, condemns extreme low wages to tea workers

Mar 27, 2014 | Event Reports

EU ambassador among a tea community in a labour line in Alynagar Tea Estate. © Saydur Rahman

“The workers in Bangladesh tea industry DO NOT get decent wage, this is NOT fair, this is NOT just,” ambassador of the EU Delegation to Bangladesh William Hanna said during his visit to a project that is involved in a participatory research with tea workers and little-known ethnic communities with an aim to improve their living and working conditions. The project titled “Mapping and Capacity Building of Tea Workers and little known ethnic communities in Bangladesh” is implemented by the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD). The European Union finances the project under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights. ICCO COOPERATION the Netherlands provides 20% of the total budget of the project.

“This is not just that people should not get fair wage for their work. This is a question of justice. If anybody asks me if I am satisfied; No, I am not satisfied with what I see. This is injustice. So I will go back to Dhaka, talk to minister of commerce Tofail Ahmed, I will talk to minister of agriculture Matia Chowdhury and say, what is this injustice (going on) in your country?”

Ambassador Hannah spoke very boldly in front of an audience comprising tea garden owners, tea community leaders, government officials and reporters of print and electronic media. The meeting took place in Project Development Unit (PDU) auditorium in Srimongol, Maulvibazar on 17 March.

“Why does the European Union have to come in here and look at this question? Because we are concerned about justice, worldwide. And this particular example is worse than other countries; I have been in the Africa, in Tanzania; I have seen the people who work there, I was in Cameroon, I have seen people who work there; and in this country (Bangladesh) they have been treated worse. That’s a fact, we all know it. Why are people being paid so little, I don’t know, I don’t get it,” Ambassador continued with apparent surprise. He called upon everybody to work together to come out of the model that was introduced by, as dubbed by many, the British colonizers, and ensure that the workers get enough money so they can send their children to schools, have a decent life, have medical care and not live a back-breaking life they live today.

The EU ambassador also spoke about tourism potentials in the tea garden areas. He mentioned that he had visited Baikka Beel, a wetland near Maulvibazar that very morning and watched at least 20 different species of birds there. To him, tourism can help solve unemployment problem in the area. “It is in everybody’s interests to ensure that the living conditions of these deprived communities of workers become more humane, so that they can actively participate in the building of a prosperous Bangladesh,” said Ambassador Hanna.

Facilitated by Philip Gain, Director or SEHD, others who spoke at the meeting included trade union leaders in tea industry Rambhajan Kairi and Bijoy Bunarjee; Golam Mohammad Sibly, chairman of Bangladesh Tea Association (BTA) Sylhet Branch; Harun-Or-Rashid, director of Project Development Unit (PDU); Hasna Hena Khan, program officer of ICCO COOPERATION; and Nasim Anwar, a former planter and consultant in the tea sector.

After the meeting, the ambassador visited a labour line in Alynagar Tea Estate to see the living conditions of tea workers in his own eyes. There he was welcomed very warmly by the tea workers and their families.

Tea workers and their communities are one of the most marginalized and excluded groups in Bangladesh, being effectively ‘tied’ to the tea gardens where they work. The level of deprivation is illustrated when comparing their wages to what is paid in other countries in the region. The daily pay in Bangladesh is 69 Taka, a dramatically low pay considering that the daily cash of tea workers in Sri Lanka is with 550 Rupee (328 Taka) about 5 times as high.

The project “Mapping and capacity building of tea plantation workers and little-known ethnic communities of Bangladesh” is being implemented in tea growing areas in the Northeast, Chittagong, North-Centre, Northwest and the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). It has a target population of about 1.1 million people (600,000 tea workers and 500,000 members of little-known ethnic communities).

PDF version of report [ Download ]

The writer is research and documentation officer of Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD)

First Published: Dhaka Courier, 27 March 2014

The EU ambassador visited tea communities in their labour line in Srimongol

The EU ambassador visited tea communities in their labour line in Srimongol

Mar 17, 2014 | SEHD News

The EU ambassador visited tea communities in their labour line in Srimongol on 17 March 2014. He condemned extreme low wages to tea workers.

EU ambassador visits labour line, condemns extreme
low wages to tea workers
Md. Ashraful Haque

“The workers in Bangladesh tea industry DO NOT get decent wage, this is NOT fair, this is NOT just,” ambassador of the EU Delegation to Bangladesh William Hanna said during his visit to a project that is involved in a participatory research with tea workers and little-known ethnic communities with an aim to improve their living and working conditions. The project titled “Mapping and Capacity Building of Tea Workers and little known ethnic communities in Bangladesh” is implemented by the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD). The European Union finances the project under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights. ICCO COOPERATION the Netherlands provides 20% of the total budget of the project.

“This is not just that people should not get fair wage for their work. This is a question of justice. If anybody asks me if I am satisfied; No, I am not satisfied with what I see. This is injustice. So I will go back to Dhaka, talk to minister of commerce Tofail Ahmed, I will talk to minister of agriculture Matia Chowdhury and say, what is this injustice (going on) in your country?”

Ambassador Hannah spoke very boldly in front of an audience comprising tea garden owners, tea community leaders, government officials and reporters of print and electronic media. The meeting took place in Project Development Unit (PDU) auditorium in Srimongol, Maulvibazar on 17 March.

“Why does the European Union have to come in here and look at this question? Because we are concerned about justice, worldwide. And this particular example is worse than other countries; I have been in the Africa, in Tanzania; I have seen the people who work there, I was in Cameroon, I have seen people who work there; and in this country (Bangladesh) they have been treated worse. That’s a fact, we all know it. Why are people being paid so little, I don’t know, I don’t get it,” Ambassador continued with apparent surprise. He called upon everybody to work together to come out of the model that was introduced by, as dubbed by many, the British colonizers, and ensure that the workers get enough money so they can send their children to schools, have a decent life, have medical care and not live a back-breaking life they live today.

The EU ambassador also spoke about tourism potentials in the tea garden areas. He mentioned that he had visited Baikka Beel, a wetland near Maulvibazar that very morning and watched at least 20 different species of birds there. To him, tourism can help solve unemployment problem in the area. “It is in everybody’s interests to ensure that the living conditions of these deprived communities of workers become more humane, so that they can actively participate in the building of a prosperous Bangladesh,” said Ambassador Hanna.

Facilitated by Philip Gain, Director or SEHD, others who spoke at the meeting included trade union leaders in tea industry Rambhajan Kairi and Bijoy Bunarjee; Golam Mohammad Sibly, chairman of Bangladesh Tea Association (BTA) Sylhet Branch; Harun-Or-Rashid, director of Project Development Unit (PDU); Hasna Hena Khan, program officer of ICCO COOPERATION; and Nasim Anwar, a former planter and consultant in the tea sector.

After the meeting, the ambassador visited a labour line in Alynagar Tea Estate to see the living conditions of tea workers in his own eyes. There he was welcomed very warmly by the tea workers and their families.

Tea workers and their communities are one of the most marginalized and excluded groups in Bangladesh, being effectively ‘tied’ to the tea gardens where they work. The level of deprivation is illustrated when comparing their wages to what is paid in other countries in the region. The daily pay in Bangladesh is 69 Taka, a dramatically low pay considering that the daily cash of tea workers in Sri Lanka is with 550 Rupee (328 Taka) about 5 times as high.

The project “Mapping and capacity building of tea plantation workers and little-known ethnic communities of Bangladesh” is being implemented in tea growing areas in the Northeast, Chittagong, North-Centre, Northwest and the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). It has a target population of about 1.1 million people (600,000 tea workers and 500,000 members of little-known ethnic communities).

The writer is research and documentation officer of Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD)

http://www.dhakacourier.com.bd/?p=16679

Tea Industry: Bonanza for owners, misery for workers

Tea Industry: Bonanza for owners, misery for workers

Feb 20, 2014 | Event Reports

Kairi also pointed out that legal remedy to tea workers deprivations have tactfully been kept away from them. “A worker has to go to the labour court located in Chittagong in case of a legal fight, which is nearly impossible for a low-paid labour,” he said. “Neither political leaders nor the state cares about the systematic deprivation of tea workers. It is very shameful that the government is not holding elections for such a big trade union as tea workers’,” deplored Kairi. Other labour leaders including Parimal Sing Baraik also reiterated the call to end tea workers’ ordeals.

While the labour law is discriminatory in the case of the tea workers, the owners ignore their legally binding essential obligation. To illustrate owners’ neglect Delwar Hossain, labour inspector (general) Sylhet Division said, “What we find in the tea garden is that the owners do not issue appointment letter to the workers. This is violation of law and we are now asking the management to issue proper appointment letter.”

The management response with regard to issuing of appointment letter to the workers is that they would raise the matter at the upper level. “We have taken some measures (cases) in this regard. We have fined three managers so far,” informed the labour inspector who also makes it a point that according to law, a worker shall be made permanent within six months of his/her appointment. But in the case of tea workers they are not made permanent within the period.

The participants, government officials, tea community leaders, researchers and tea garden officials shared their insights and opinions in the program based on their engagement with tea communities and the tea industry.

Beside sharing information with others and learning from avid researchers, participants received hands-on experience in conducting focus group discussion (FGD), face-to-face interview, and writing case studies in the unique training. Each of them was grouped with a small team that visited a couple of labour lines in five tea gardens. Every team conducted a FGD with Panchayet (an elected body of representatives of tea workers to look after various issues of a labour line) members and filled in a questionnaire that was designed to collect data on socio-economic status and ethnic composition of tea communities. Each participant also interviewed at least one tea worker and wrote case studies on issues ranging from health to education, livelihood to landlessness.

Mohammad Giashuddin, deputy director of labour (DDL) of Department of Labour, while describing the structure and functions of the departments of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, put forward some of his observations on the rights of tea workers. He said that the labour law ensures many rights to the tea workers, but those are not implemented. The workers lead a very hard life. Scarcity of clean drinking water, insufficient sanitation and housing etc characterize the labour lines.

“The tendency to deprive the tea workers is a legacy of British companies that brought the workers in promising good fortune, but deceived them,” opined Giashuddin who partially blamed the deprivation of workers on garden authority. “Tea garden managers earn a good sum of money in many ways, but they do not know laws,” he observed. However, he held the labour leaders’ failures to press their demands ultimately responsible for the labours’ deprivations. “There are hardly any cases filed against the owners,” he said.

The session at this point became vibrant as a participant threw a question to DDL, “While the elected representatives of tea workers union are driven out of labour house [the trade union office], and the government has kept the house under lock and key, where will the workers go to claim their rights?” It can be mentioned here that the first ever trade union elections for the tea workers took place in 2008. But in 2009 the elected trade union officials were removed from office by force and a government-backed ad-hoc committee was installed in their place. Later in the face of a spontaneous country-wide strike of tea workers, Awami League government emptied the house and promised fresh elections. That election is yet to be held.

In response to such query DDL confessed his limitations as a government official and said that he would hold elections if directed by the government.

Prakash Kanti Chowdhury, ADC (revenue), Moulvibazar said that the condition of tea workers and their community is improving.  At least 40 schools have been established in the tea gardens in Moulvibazar district since 2010. Not all the gardens have satisfactory health, education and housing facilities, but the government is monitoring these issues. “There was a time when we (administrative officials) hardly met any garden manager, but now as they have to come to us for renewal of lease deeds, we have a chance to look into the facilities they provide for workers,” said the ADC. “In the proposed tea policy 2012, we have recommended that the tea garden authority provides a spacious house with at least two rooms and a veranda as well as sufficient health, sanitation and education facilities,” he added.

In answer to a query from a participant whether the government ever had a policy discussion over giving tea workers legal rights and ownership on the land they are living in for more than one and half century, Mr. Chowdhury said that a inter-ministerial body comprising the ministry of land, ministry of labour and other line ministries will need to sit together to decide on that.

Reacting to such question, Robiul Hasan, Manager, Kalindi tea garden feared that if tea workers are given ownership to land, they will stop working for the tea industry. He claimed that tea community is doing much better than earlier times. “Soon there will be time when no illiterate person will be left in tea gardens,” asserted Hasan.

Md. Haroon-Or-Rashid Sarker, director, Project Development Unit (PDU), Bangladesh Tea Board said that per kilogram tea is sold at more than 300 Takas while production cost is maximum 100 Takas. He opined that if the owners of tea gardens spend more from this huge profit for the workers, it will benefit the industry itself in the end. “The ration provided to the workers is of inferior quality. If the workers are sick all the time, it hampers production. These problems can be solved easily,” Rashid said.

The training ended on 11 February with participants going back to their communities with confidence and profound enthusiasm to continue writing and reporting various issues of tea communities.

The training workshop designed to share tools for rethinking rights, justice, developing minds among the tea workers in particular was moderated by Philip Gain. To prepare the participants for hands on training Dr. Tanzimuddin Khan, associate professor of Dhaka University, this writer and Philip Gain talked on Focus Group Discussion (FGD), case studies, survey, and applied research techniques.

The training ended on 11 February with participants going back to their communities with confidence and profound enthusiasm to continue writing and reporting various issues of tea communities.

PDF version of report [ Download ]

Writer is Research and Documentation Officer at Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD).

Report by Md. Ashraful Haque
First Published: Dhaka Courier, 20 February 2014

SEHD organizes residential workshop on study and rethinking rights of tea workers

SEHD organizes residential workshop on study and rethinking rights of tea workers

Feb 8, 2014 | SEHD News

The Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD) organized a four-day residential workshop titled, “Study and rethinking rights of tea workers” in Srimongol in Maulvibazar district from 8-11 February 2014.

Tea Industry: Bonanza for Owners, Misery for Workers –  Md. Ashraful Haque

“The labor law itself is at the roots of deprivations of tea workers,” said Ram Bhajan Kairi, in a residential workshop organized by the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD). The four-day training workshop titled, “Rethinking Rights of Tea Workers” was held in Komolganj, Moulvibazar from 8 to 11 February. Thirty-five participants, most of them youths from the tea workers’ communities, joined the workshop. Thirteen ethnic communities were represented at the workshop.

The prime objective of the program was to enhance participants’ capacity to write reports and take part in research on issues regarding tea workers and their communities.

Kairi, a labor leader and a staff of SEHD said, according to the law, workers of all industries are entitled to 10 days of casual leave, which is not applicable to tea workers. Besides, tea workers enjoy one day of annual leave for every 22 days of work while workers of other industries get one  day leave against every 18 days work.

Kairi also pointed out that legal remedy to tea workers deprivations have tactfully been kept away from them. “A worker has to go to the labor court located in Chittagong in case of a legal fight, which is nearly impossible for a low-paid labor,” he said. “Neither political leaders nor the state cares about the systematic deprivation of tea workers. It is very shameful that the government is not holding elections for such a big trade union as tea workers’,” deplored Kairi. Other labor leaders including Parimal Sing Baraik also reiterated the call to end tea workers’ ordeals.

While the labor law is discriminatory in the case of the tea workers, the owners ignore their legally binding essential obligation. To illustrate owners’ neglect Delwar Hossain, labour inspector (general) Sylhet Division said, “What we find in the tea garden is that the owners do not issue appointment letter to the workers. This is violation of law and we are now asking the management to issue proper appointment letter.”

The management response with regard to issuing of appointment letter to the workers is that they would raise the matter at the upper level. “We have taken some measures (cases) in this regard. We have fined three managers so far,” informed the labor inspector who also makes it a point that according to law, a worker shall be made permanent within six months of his/her appointment. But in the case of tea workers they are not made permanent within the period.

The participants, government officials, tea community leaders, researchers and tea garden officials shared their insights and opinions in the program based on their engagement with tea communities and the tea industry.

Beside sharing information with others and learning from avid researchers, participants received hands-on experience in conducting focus group discussion (FGD), face-to-face interview, and writing case studies in the unique training. Each of them was grouped with a small team that visited a couple of labor lines in five tea gardens. Every team conducted a FGD with Panchayet (an elected body of representatives of tea workers to look after various issues of a labor line) members and filled in a questionnaire that was designed to collect data on socio-economic status and ethnic composition of tea communities. Each participant also interviewed at least one tea worker and wrote case studies on issues ranging from health to education, livelihood to landlessness.

Mohammad Giashuddin, deputy director of labor (DDL) of Department of Labour, while describing the structure and functions of the departments of the Ministry of Labor and Employment, put forward some of his observations on the rights of tea workers. He said that the labor law ensures many rights to the tea workers, but those are not implemented. The workers lead a very hard life. Scarcity of clean drinking water, insufficient sanitation and housing etc characterize the labor lines.

“The tendency to deprive the tea workers is a legacy of British companies that brought the workers in promising good fortune, but deceived them,” opined Giashuddin who partially blamed the deprivation of workers on garden authority. “Tea garden managers earn a good sum of money in many ways, but they do not know laws,” he observed. However, he held the labor leaders’ failures to press their demands ultimately responsible for the labors’ deprivations. “There are hardly any cases filed against the owners,” he said.

The session at this point became vibrant as a participant threw a question to DDL, “While the elected representatives of tea workers union are driven out of labor house [the trade union office], and the government has kept the house under lock and key, where will the workers go to claim their rights?” It can be mentioned here that the first ever trade union elections for the tea workers took place in 2008. But in 2009 the elected trade union officials were removed from office by force and a government-backed ad-hoc committee was installed in their place. Later in the face of a spontaneous country-wide strike of tea workers, Awami League government emptied the house and promised fresh elections. That election is yet to be held.

In response to such query DDL confessed his limitations as a government official and said that he would hold elections if directed by the government.

Prakash Kanti Chowdhury, ADC (revenue), Moulvibazar said that the condition of tea workers and their community is improving.  At least 40 schools have been established in the tea gardens in Moulvibazar district since 2010. Not all the gardens have satisfactory health, education and housing facilities, but the government is monitoring these issues. “There was a time when we (administrative officials) hardly met any garden manager, but now as they have to come to us for renewal of lease deeds, we have a chance to look into the facilities they provide for workers,” said the ADC. “In the proposed tea policy 2012, we have recommended that the tea garden authority provides a spacious house with at least two rooms and a veranda as well as sufficient health, sanitation and education facilities,” he added.

In answer to a query from a participant whether the government ever had a policy discussion over giving tea workers legal rights and ownership on the land they are living in for more than one and half century, Mr. Chowdhury said that a inter-ministerial body comprising the ministry of land, ministry of labor and other line ministries will need to sit together to decide on that.

Reacting to such question, Robiul Hasan, Manager, Kalindi tea garden feared that if tea workers are given ownership to land, they will stop working for the tea industry. He claimed that tea community is doing much better than earlier times. “Soon there will be time when no illiterate person will be left in tea gardens,” asserted Hasan.

Md. Haroon-Or-Rashid Sarker, director, Project Development Unit (PDU), Bangladesh Tea Board said that the owners of tea gardens make high profit. He opined that if the owners of tea gardens spend more from this huge profit for the workers, it will benefit the industry itself in the end. “The ration provided to the workers is of inferior quality. If the workers are sick all the time, it hampers production. These problems can be solved easily,” Rashid said.

The training workshop designed to share tools for rethinking rights, justice, developing minds among the tea workers in particular was moderated by Philip Gain. To prepare the participants for hands on training Dr. Tanzimuddin Khan, associate professor of Dhaka University, this writer and Philip Gain talked on Focus Group Discussion (FGD), case studies, survey, and applied research techniques.

The training ended on 11 February with participants going back to their communities with confidence and profound enthusiasm to continue writing and reporting various issues of tea communities.

Writer is Research and Documentation Officer at Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD).

The Chittagong Hill Tracts: Man-Nature Nexus Torn

The Chittagong Hill Tracts: Man-Nature Nexus Torn

Dec 22, 2013 | Adivasis and Forests

“The Chittagong Hill Tracts: Man-Nature Nexus Torn” is a report on the state of environment in the CHT. Once part of a mega-diversity zone in South Asia, the CHT has lost its majestic look. It is now faced with an ecological disaster. The hills are barren today and the forest resources have decreased to great extent.  

The indigenous peoples who had a free run in the forests for generations now witness their nexus with nature torn. This is an unprecedented ecocide for the Chittagong Hill Tracts. This 368-page book compiles facts, analyses, thoughts, critiques, maps, and images about how the natural heritage and the ecology of the CHThasbeen torn to pieces. The destruction of forests and the landscapes, invasion of outsiders, and promotion of plantation economy, to name a few factors, have torn the man-nature nexus in the CHT.

Edited by Philip Gain | English PBK 368 pages, 2013 | Price: Tk. 500 US$20

“The most romantic corner of the country” the CHT, very different from the Ganges-Brahmaputra Meghna (GBM) floodplains and delta, “is beset with environmental and social problems,” observes Prof. Haroun Er Rashid, the geography guru and a contributor to the report. He stresses on the fragility of the region and warns, “If resources of the CHT continue to be used unwisely, as at present, the environment will degrade severely in the next ten years. To prevent that bleak future every resource—trees, rocks, water, soil etc.—will have to be used in a sustainable manner.” Other contributors reinforce Prof. Rashid’s contention.

Different chapters of the report deal with geography and environment, forests, official and illegal logging, plantation [economy], environmental impacts of development projects [Karnaphuli Paper Mill and Kaptai Hydroelectricity in particular] land grabbing, serfdom in the colonial reserves, pillage of the reserved forests (special attention to Reingkhyong, Kassalong, Sangu, and Matamuhuri reserved forests), village common forestry (VCF), bamboo [with an attention to its flowering and rat flood], traditional use of medicinal plants, wildlife [animals and birds] and their threats,  brick-burning, invasion of tobacco, timber and furniture trade, water, stone mining, houses, traditional foods of the indigenous peoples, and impacts of militarization.

An annotated bibliography of books, reports and documentary films on the CHT and the glossary, concepts, and theories relating to the CHT bring useful practical tips for further research and investigation on the CHT environment. We believe this report will guide people to understand the ecological disaster that has happened in the CHT. At the same time, it comes as an eye-opener to the state and the majority who can still play the role in saving the last bits and pieces of nature and repairing the nexus of nature and human beings.

Contributors to the Book: Prof. Haroun Er Rashid, Jenneke Arens, Raja Devasish Roy, Raja Tridiv Roy (late), Philip Gain, Sudibbya Kanti Khisha, Sardar Nasiruddin, M. Monirul H. Khan, Ronald R. Halder, Sayam U. Chowdhuruy, Buddhajyoti Chakma, Partha Shankar Saha, Prof. Sadeka Halim, Asfara Ahmed, Han Han, A.K.M. Muajjam Hossain Russel, Tahmid Huq Easher, Shekhar Kanti Ray, Md. Safiullah Safi, Syeda Nusrat Haque, Supriyo Chakma, Alimul Haque, Robert Alec Lindeman, Asif Khan, Tania Sultana, Ushing Prue, Nimaprue Marma, Ching Mo Sang, Lucky Chakma, and Ainud Sony.

Edited by Philip Gain
English PBK 368 pages, 2013
Price: Tk. 500 US$20