Tea workers of 18 NTC gardens to return to work in Sylhet from Thursday

After nearly 3 months of closure, tea workers of all the gardens of National Tea Company Limited (NTC) have decided to join work from Thursday (December 5).

The decision was taken at a joint meeting of the National Tea Company authorities with top-level leaders of the tea workers on Monday at the Srimangal Labor Department office in Moulvibazar.

National Tea Company Managing Director Syed Mahmud Hasan, NTC General Manager Emdadul Haque, DDL Nahidul Islam and Tea Workers Union General Secretary Nipen Pal, former General Secretary Rambhajan Kairi, among others, were present at the meeting.
The decisions taken in the meeting are that the workers will be given two weeks' arrears of wages on the first day of joining work next Thursday (December 5). Monthly wage workers will be given one month's salary. From now on, the salaries of workers and employees will be paid regularly. Garden employees will be paid one month's salary by December 20. Tea workers' rations will not be deducted on the days of garden closure. Garden closure days will not be shown as absent when calculating bonuses and annual holidays. The remaining outstanding wages will be paid by March 2025. The outstanding contributions to the Provident Fund will be paid by April 7, 2025.

Former General Secretary of Bangladesh Tea Workers Union Rambhajan Koiri said that a joint meeting was held at the office of the Srimangal Department of Labor between the top leaders of tea workers and the authorities of the National Tea Company. In the meeting, it was decided that tea workers of all the gardens of the National Tea Company Limited will join work from Thursday (December 5).

Incidentally, the workers stopped all types of work in 18 gardens of the National Tea Company for 12 consecutive weeks without receiving wages. As a result, the government-controlled gardens came to a standstill.