The members of the South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE), a regional platform of social movements and civil society organisations would like to express solidarity with the struggle of tea plantation workers in Bangladesh who are protesting for raise in their daily wage to BDT 300.
Compared to the declared minimum wage of BDT 620 in rural regions and BDT 680 in urban areas, which are given to the workers in other sectors, tea plantation workers in Bangladesh are paid an incredibly meagre wage of BDT 120 a day. The South Asian governments’ reluctance towards bringing into legislation and practice a dignified living wage is making the precarious and terrible living conditions of tea plantation workers even worse. BDT 120 per day is not a minimum wage but a ‘starvation wage’ leading to a cost-of-living crisis amidst the rising inflation in the region.
We demand the Government of Bangladesh to raise the daily wage of workers at least to the level of minimum wage declared for other sectors, which is above BDT 600. SAAPE members would like to join the tea plantation workers’ protest in Bangladesh for their legitimate and just demands.
