Tea garden workers in Sylhet began returning to work even on their weekly holiday on Sunday ending 19 days of strike after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stepped in to increase their daily wages to Tk 170 to 120.
The new wage was announced on Saturday night after the prime minister’s meeting with the tea estate owners to discuss the workers’ demand to raise their daily pay to Tk 300, reports UNB.
Though most of the tea gardens were closed due to the weekly holiday, workers of a number of tea gardens were seen joining their work in Sunday morning.
Many of them expressed their gratitude to PM Hasina for her intervention.
Raju Goala, president of Tea Workers Union in Sylhet Valley, said “Most of the workers joined their work while some workers stayed home for weekend holiday. They are expected to join their work from Monday.”
Nripen Pal, acting general secretary of Bangladesh Tea Workers Union, said “The tea workers have accepted the daily wages fixed by the prime minister.”
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
