The National Tea Company (NTC) announced that its 19 tea gardens, including those in Kamalganj, Moulvibazar, will resume operations on Tuesday after resolving part of a prolonged wage dispute with workers.
On Monday evening, the company disbursed two weeks' worth of wages, amounting to approximately Tk 3 crore, to its tea workers.
Each worker received Tk 2,380 as two weeks' wages, addressing part of the six-week backlog. The payment followed delays caused by issues obtaining a no-objection certificate (NOC) from Bangladesh Bank, which stalled a loan from the Agricultural Bank.
The tea workers had been on strike for over three months, halting operations at all NTC-managed gardens. The strike stemmed from non-payment of wages for 12 consecutive weeks and other grievances, including bonus and ration deductions.
Later, in a meeting on December 1, attended by NTC officials and tea workers' union leaders, several resolutions were reached such as two weeks' wages to be paid by December 5, regular monthly salaries for all workers and one month's arrears for salaried employees by December 20, non-deduction of rations for shutdown periods and inclusion of these periods in annual leave calculations, remaining back wages to be cleared by March 2025, with provident fund arrears paid by April 2025.
The prolonged shutdown during the peak tea season severely impacted tea production, resulting in significant financial losses for NTC. The deputy general manager of NTC, Shafiqul Rahman Munna, described the situation as a "double blow" for the company.
The tea workers have expressed their willingness to resume work, given the partial resolution of their demands. However, the company must ensure timely payment of the remaining dues and adhere to the agreed terms to prevent further disruptions.
