Working Conditions in The Bangladesh Tea Plantation Industry

Transcription

1 4 Working Conditions in The Bangladesh Tea Plantation Industry Pratima Paul-Majumder 1.1 Introduction The colonial British administration took up tea plantation in the Indian subcontinent at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Since then, the sub-continent s tea industry has slowly established its position as a major producer of tea in the world. At present, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka account for 52 per cent of the world tea production. However, the dominance of these countries in the tea world is on the decline. At the global level, the tea industry is increasingly finding it difficult to meet ends caught between rising costs on the one hand and stagnant, sometimes even declining prices of tea on the other. Globalisation and economic liberalisation contributed greatly to these factors since more and more countries are undertaking tea plantation. Moreover, globalisation links labour standards to trade policy. This also contributed greatly to the rising cost since tea plantation is a very labour intensive activity. It requires workers round the year. Hence, labour standards gain more importance for the tea plantation to be competitive in the world market. Improvement of labour productivity is acknowledged as an essential means of raising level of competitiveness of the tea industry in the world market despite its low price. It has been found that besides technology and skills training, labour productivity itself is dependent on maintaining fair labour standards relating to working conditions, wages, health and nutrition status, housing and education facilities. Thus, maintaining a fair labour standard is one of the key factors affecting the competitive viability of the tea industry in the world market. In India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, labour legislation for the tea plantation sector is more than 50 years old. In addition to the labour Laws of 1995 and the Factory Rules of

2 80 Labour and Social Issues in Plantations in South Asia 1979, which are applicable to all work places in general, the government of Bangladesh has exacted several legislations, namely (a) Maternity Benefit (Tea Estates) Act, 1950, (b) Plantation Employees Provident Fund Rules, 1960, (c) Tea Plantation Labour Ordinance, 1962, (d) Tea Plantation Labour Rules, 1977, (e) The Tea (amendment) Ordinance, 1986, and (f) Bangladesh Cha Sramik Kalyan Fund Ordinance, 1986 particularly for the tea plantation sector to ensure workers right to safe, secure and hygienic working conditions. However, even after the enactment of all these legislations, tea workers right to safe, secure and hygienic working conditions have not yet been ensured. Very few micro-level studies on tea plantation workers have been done so far. Still the findings of these studies show that the tea plantation workers are living a subhuman life both in terms of working conditions, living conditions and health security (Khan 1991, BPMI 1997, Saha 2001). A great deal has to be done to improve these conditions, particularly for women workers (who account for the majority of the tea plantation workforce), in line with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 110 adopted in Moreover, in recognition of the deeply entrenched and systematic discrimination against women in employment, and the particular demands of their reproductive role, the ILO has approved special instruments to respond to women s special needs. The most comprehensive and wide-ranging of the ILO conventions relating to women is Convention No Much has to be done in line with this gender focused convention. Recently the ILO has directed serious attention to the social dimensions of globalisation. Its strategic objective is to ensure decent work among its member states by promoting International Labour Standards (ILS). But tea workers, particularly women workers, are deprived of their right to decent work. One of the main reasons behind workers deprivation from right to decent work is the absence of effective social dialogue between the workers, employers and the government. During the last few years, a social dialogue is regularly held between the workers and employers associations in the tea sector. But experience shows that during this dialogue the employers did not take most of the workers demands into consideration. Moreover, ultimately, they did not comply with whatever demand they agreed upon. It is mainly due to the fact that the workers organisation representing the workers rights in the social dialogue is not strong enough to negotiate with the employers. Social dialogue between the employers and the workers become successful only when the workers can raise a strong collective voice against their sufferings through their organisation. Hence, there is an acute necessity of first organising the tea plantation workers, particularly women workers so that they can attain the power of collective bargaining and thereby strengthen their organisation.

3 Working Conditions in The Bangladesh Tea Plantation Industry 81 A workers organisation is an essential factor not only for promoting workers well-being but also an important factor affecting efficient use of the labour force. The global market for tea is becoming increasingly competitive since more and more countries are entering into this sector. This competition is challenging the comparative advantage of Bangladesh s cheap labour. Hence, to meet the challenges of globalisation, the unit labour cost of production needs to be reduced by raising labour productivity. An organised labour force is the most essential factor affecting labour productivity. This paper attempts to devise a strategy to promote effective social dialogues between the tea plantation workers and their employers. It also attempts to determine the practicality of providing social protection to women workers through their own organisations and thereby enhance their labour productivity. Systematic training for the members of the workers organisation has proved to be a breakthrough in terms of skill development, consciousness raising, and blossoming of self-confidence (Bullock 1994). Hence, the possibility of providing skill training to the workers, particularly women workers through their organisation, has also been explored in this paper. 1.2 Objectives This study has the following objectives: l l l l l l l Outlining the growth of tea plantation industry in Bangladesh and the impact of globalization on it Assessing the working and living conditions of the tea plantation workers in Bangladesh Identifying the major problems faced by the tea plantation workers Identifying the gender dimension of the problems faced by the tea plantation workers Assessing the activity of the Bangladesh Cha Sramik Union and its performance in solving the problems of the tea plantation workers Assessing the social dialogue between Bangladeshiyo Cha Sangshad and Bangladesh Cha Sramik Union Assessing the organising capability of the tea plantation workers 1.3 Sources and Methodology Analysis in this study primarily depends on qualitative data drawn from in-depth interviews and discussions with the members of Bangladesh Cha Sangshad, Bangladesh Cha Sramik Union, employers/owners, members of the Panchyaet (garden unit of Bangladesh

4 82 Labour and Social Issues in Plantations in South Asia Cha Sramik Union) and tea plantation workers at the grass root level. Qualitative data have also been collected from focus group discussions with the tea plantation workers. To collect information from the workers, five tea gardens were randomly selected from a list of gardens presented in the Annual Report of the Bangladesh Cha Sangshad. Among these five gardens, two belong to A category, two belong to B category and the other one belongs to C category of gardens. A total of 117 workers (68 female and 49 male) were interviewed through a structured questionnaire. The main objective of this survey is to collect information regarding awareness of the tea workers about their rights and their involvement in trade unionism. Along with this survey data, this study brings together quantitative data drawn from a combination of existing empirical research and surveys of the tea industry in Bangladesh. 1.4 Organisation Section 2 presents a brief account of the growth of tea plantation industry in Bangladesh. An attempt has also been made here to compare the productivity of Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Kenya. Section 3 presents a profile of the socio-economic conditions of the tea plantation workers, and attempts to identify the major problems faced by the tea plantation workers, especially the gender differences in sufferings. In addition, an assessment of the living and health conditions of the tea plantation workers has been made in this section. Section 4 examines the working conditions in the tea plantation industry. Both terms and conditions of employment and physical working conditions have been assessed in this section. An overview of the growth of trade unionism, and gender roles and positions in existing trade union organizations has been presented in Section 5. Section 6 assesses the ability of tea plantation workers to organise their own associations. The concluding Section discusses the policy implications of the preceding analysis. 2. AN OVERVIEW OF THE GROWTH OF TEA PLANTATION INDUSTRY IN BANGLADESH Tea occupies an important place in the national economy of Bangladesh. It accounts for 0.81 per cent of her GDP (Alam 1998). About four lakh people live on the plantation industry of Bangladesh. This sector provides employment to 0.15 million people, which accounts for nearly 3.3 per cent of the total industrial employment in the country. Tea is also an important commodity in the international trade since it is an important export item of Bangladesh. During the 1970s and 1980s, this item earned a large portion of her foreign exchange. But after the emergence of the garment industry, tea lost its dominance in the foreign exchange earning. In 1998, it earned only 0.80 per cent of the total foreign exchange earnings of Bangladesh (see Table 4.1). However, at present, Bangladesh earns a substantial amount of revenue in terms of sales tax, as internal

5 Working Conditions in The Bangladesh Tea Plantation Industry 83 consumption of tea is increasing at the rate of about 1 million kg per annum. Revenue is also earned in terms of excise duty. Table 4.1: Production, Consumption and Export of Tea in Bangladesh, Financial Total area Total Yield per Quantity Exported Quantity Share of Tea Year under tea Production Hectare (in Kg) (in thousand kg) Consumed Sector in the Production (in thousand Domestically Total Export (in hectare)* kg) (in thousand kg) Earnings of Bangladesh/ ,688 45, ,970 (59.7) 18,190 (40.3) ,306 45, ,380 (56.4) 19,650 (43.6) ,561 48,931 1,028 27,160 (55.5) (44.5) ,789 50,507 1,061 31,910 (63.2) 18,590 (36.8) ,492 51,641 1,113 23,640 (45.8) 28,000 (54.2) ,749 47,673 1,067 25,430 (53.3) 22,240 ( ,097 53,406 1,109 26,150 (49.0) 27,250 (51.0) , ,052 25,160 (49.8) 25,360 (50.2) ,736 55,824 1,145 22,220 (39.8) 33,600 (60.1) 0.8 Growth over 9 years Note: Figures within parenthesis are percentages of total production. Source: Bangladehiyo Cha Sangsad, Annual Report Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, various years, *Hectare under tea excludes: (1) Seed bari, (2) Nursery, and (3) area of non-producing garden. Tea plantation in Bangladesh is concentrated mainly in her hilly zones of four districts namely Sylhet, Maulovibazar, Habigong and Chittagong. Now there is a tea estate in the district of Brahmanbaria also. In total, there are 158 gardens of which only 25 gardens are situated in Chittagong, Sylhet, Maulovibazar, Habigonj (which constitute the greater Sylhet District) and Brahmanbaria accommodate the rest 133 gardens and contribute about 96 per cent of the annual production. Out of the total number of gardens, Sterling Companies own 26 gardens (a little more than 20 per cent of all the gardens) and Bangladeshi companies and individual proprietors own rest of the 132 gardens. However, among these gardens, individual proprietors own only a little more than 20 per cent of them. All gardens are divided into three categories namely A, B, and C depending on amount of production and percentage of land under tea plantation. About two-fifths of the total gardens belong to each of A and B category of gardens, while the remaining one-fifth belong to C category. All the gardens belonging to Sterling Companies are A

6 84 Labour and Social Issues in Plantations in South Asia category gardens and occupy about 39 per cent of total land under tea plantation. But Sterling companies occupying only 39 per cent of land produce more than 49 per cent of total tea production of Bangladesh. Thus, productivity of Sterling Companies gardens is far more than that of the gardens of Bangladeshi Companies. It was found that in Sterling Companies, production of tea per hectare is 1,437 kg. whereas the same for the Bangladeshi companies and proprietary estate is only 961 kg (BCS, ). Total acreage under tea plantation has not increased much over time. As can be noticed from Table 4.1, that over the period of land under tea plantation increased only by 4.39 per cent, whereas total production rose by per cent. As a result, production per hectare rose significantly from 967 kg in 1990 to 1,145 kg in 1998 accounting for about per cent increase over nine years time. During the same period, total production of Bangladesh rose from 45,160 metric tons to 55,824 metric tons made tea. It is encouraging to notice from Table 2, that the growth of total tea production in Bangladesh over this nine years period is higher compared to other major tea producing countries in South Asia like India, China and Sri-Lanka (see Table 4.2). But still Bangladesh could not increase her share in the world market since her domestic consumption has also increased significantly. It can be observed from table 1 that, in 1990, a little more than 40 per cent of total production of tea in Bangladesh was consumed domestically. But this share of consumption increased to more than 60 per cent in Figure 1 clearly shows how domestic consumption of tea increases sharply and exceeds total exports of tea in 1994 and Due to high rate of domestic consumption, her export dropped from 26,970 thousand kg in 1990 to 22,220 thousand kg in Figure-1: Total Consumption and export of Tea in Bangladesh Percentage of Consumption and Export Quantity exported Quantity consumed domestically Fiscal Year

7 Working Conditions in The Bangladesh Tea Plantation Industry 85 Table 4.2: Tea Production of Some Major Tea Producing Countries in Asia, (Figures represent made tea, in metric tons) Major Countries Year India China Sri Lanka Turkey Indonesia Japan Bangladesh Malaysia ,,20,338 5,40,100 2,34,076 1,31,192 1,45,159 49,903 45,160 5,621 (28.4) (21.5) (9.3) (5.2) (6.0) (3.6) (1.8) (0.22) ,41,719 5,41,600 2,41,552 1,35,250 1,33, ,030 5,000 (29.2) (21.4) (9.5) (5.5) (5.3) (3.5) (1.8) (0.20) ,03,797 5,30,000 1,78,870 1,35,000 1,36,428 90,000 48,931 5,000 (30.0) (22.6) (7.6) (5.8) (5.8) (3.9) (2.1) 0.21) ,58,063 5,99,941 2,33,276 1,27,712 1,42,327 92,103 50, (29.7) (23.5) (9.2) (5.0) (5.6) (0.6) (2.0) (0.23) ,43,780 5,88,468 2,43,563 1,34,350 1,29,794 86,303 51,642 6,000 (29.7) (23.5) (9.7) (5.4) (5.2) (3.5) (2.1) (0.24) ,53,922 5,88,423 2,46,424 1,04,680 1,33,040 84,804 47,168 6,465 (30.1) (23.6) (9.9) (4.2) (5.3) (3.4) (1.9) (0.26) ,80,034 5,93,386 2,58,969 1,14,540 1,44,000 88,709 53, (29.9) (22.7) (9.9) (4.4) (5.5) (3.4) (2.1) (0.25) ,10,613 6,13,366 2,77,428 1,10,000 1,31,006 91,211 50,521 6,200 (30.4) (23.0) (10.4) (4.1) (4.9) (3.4) (2.0) (0.23) ,70,405 6,65,034 2,80,674 1,77,838 1,66,121 82,609 55,824 6,300 (29.4) (22.5) (9.5) (6.0) (5.6) (2.8) (1.9) (0.21) Growth over 9 years Source: Bangladehiyo Cha Sangsad, Annual Report Note: Figures within parenthesis indicate country s share in the world production. Other South Asian tea producing countries like India, Sri Lanka and Malaysian also could not increase their share in the world market significantly. Figure 2 clearly shows the position of these four countries in the world market of tea. In addition to increase in domestic consumption, low productivity of these countries also greatly responsible for their static condition in the world market. It can be noticed from Table 4.2 that the growth of total production of tea of these four countries during the period is far less compared to that of other Asian tea producing countries like Japan and Turkey.

8 86 Labour and Social Issues in Plantations in South Asia Figure-2: Share of Some Major Tea Producing Countries in South East Asia in Total World Production of Tea, India Sri Lanka Bangladesh Malaysia Year Productivity of the tea plantation industry in Bangladesh is the lowest among these four countries. It was found that in 1998, on an average only 1,145 kg of tea was produced per hectare in Bangladesh. Whereas in the same year, in India and Sri Lanka, production per hectare was 1,708 and 2,030 kg respectively. Both unfavourable climatic conditions and poor fertilization is mostly responsible for the low productivity. The age of tea bush is also an important factor affecting the productivity of tea plantations in Bangladesh. It is found that 23.3 per cent of total tea bush in Bangladesh is very old (over 60 years). These old trees cannot give good production. Only about 19 per cent of tea bush is found to belong to young group (5 to 20 years). This young bush is the most productive source of tea. In India and Sri Lanka, about half of the tea bush belongs to the young age group. It can be seen from Table 4.3 that acreage under young plant has not increased much over the three-year period. However, one thing worth noticing from the table is that Bangladeshi companies and proprietary estates are more dynamic than the Sterling Companies in bringing more land under new plants. In 1998, the Sterling Companies uprooted only 0.35 per cent of their total land under tea plantation, whereas in the same year the Bangladeshi companies and proprietary estates uprooted 0.62 per cent of their total land under tea plantation. In 1998, very old tea bush (over 60 years) comprised about 21 per cent of total tea plantation land owned by the Bangladeshi companies and proprietary estate, whereas the same comprises more than 27 per cent of tea plantation land owned by the Starling Companies (Table 4.3).

9 Working Conditions in The Bangladesh Tea Plantation Industry 87 Table 4.3: Break-down of Total Area Under Tea plantation and Ages of Tea Bush, (Figures are percentages of column total) Description Sterling Bangla- Total Sterling Bangla- Total Sterling Bangla- Total Garden deshi and Garden deshi and Garden deshi and Proprie- Proprie- Proprietory Estate tary Estate tory Estate 1. Seed Bari Nursery Tea plant up to 5 years 5 to 20 years to 40 years to 60 years Over 60 years Total Land Source: Bangladehiyo Cha Sangsad, Annual Report Beside the quality of tree, climatic condition and poor fertilization, crop yield is also affected by some of the basic problems of the tea industry in Bangladesh. Most important ones are as follows: 1. Absence of long term lease of the tea estate land, whereas considering the nature of tea cultivation, long term capital investment and the necessity of long term bank loan and a 99 year lease is a necessity. 2. The tea industry has not yet been declared as an export-oriented industry although about half of its annual production is exported. 3. Rehabilitation of sick garden has not yet been undertaken by the government 4. Shortage of both electricity and gas supply. 5. Theft of green leaves, cutting of shade trees, encroachment by outsiders, etc. continue to take place due to absence of favourable law and order situation. 6. Absence of adequate roads and bridge facilities. 7. Potential land for expansion of tea is not yet used. Only 42 per cent of available land area under tea estate is being used for tea cultivation. About 12 per cent of land readily available for tea cultivation remains unused.

10 88 Labour and Social Issues in Plantations in South Asia However, productivity of tea plantation greatly depends on the working efficiency of labour since it is a labour intensive commodity. Labour cost on different operations incurred 36 per cent of the total cost of production. Among the different operational cost, only plucking constitutes about 36 per cent of the total labour cost (Saha and Gazi 1994). Plucking 60 kg leaf/day doubles the wage and saves 60 per cent in the cost of plucking. The greater the efficiency of a tea plucker, the lower is the cost of tea manufacturing (Jain 1996). Thus, raising the labour productivity of plantation workers is a means of reducing cost, whereas reduction in cost is the key factor affecting the export efficiency of tea in Bangladesh. But productivity of plantation workers in Bangladesh is very low. Average output (green leaf) per worker per day is only 20 kg (BCS 1993). But in Southern India, an average worker plucks 25 kg of green leaf per day. The Kenyan average is kg of green leaf per day per worker although it must be added that this includes an element of assistance by family members, especially in the smallholdings, which adds to the individual plucker s efforts (Sivaram 1996). Crop yield is an important factor affecting the efficiency of a tea plantation worker. However, in addition to this factor, working efficiency of a worker largely depends on her/his working and living conditions and health services since these factors have grave impact on their health. Health and the productivity of a plantation worker are highly correlated. The better the health of a worker, the higher is her/his productivity since plantation work primarily requires physical strength. Hence, working and living conditions of the workers are two important factors affecting the development of tea plantation industry in Bangladesh. 3. TEA PLANTATION WORKERS AND THEIR SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND HEALTH CONDITIONS 3.1 Tea Plantation Workers During its initial stage, plantation in Bangladesh faced acute shortage of labour. No local workers were willing to do this job since it is very hard and labour intensive. The colonial British Government deployed indentured immigrants to meet this shortage. Tea plantation workers in Bangladesh came mostly from the backward class and tribal areas of central India and regions of Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. The present work force in the tea plantation sector of Bangladesh is the fourth generation of those indentured immigrants. Indentured immigrants were in fact a new forms of bonded labour. Their bonded nature revealed in their geographical confinement within the boundary of the tea estate. For more than a century they were confined within the same geographical boundary; most still are. Results of our survey of 117 plantation workers reveal that only a little more than 46 per cent of the workers had visited the nearby thana headquarter of Srimangal

11 Working Conditions in The Bangladesh Tea Plantation Industry 89 at least once in their life. Among the women, only 35 per cent had visited Srimangal. They do not know anything about what is happening outside their boundary and are isolated from the rest of the country. As a result, their aspiration is very low. With low aspiration they can not demand anything big. Through our survey we collected information about their aspiration regarding their children s education and career. It was interesting to find out that only about 2 per cent of tea workers aspire that their boy child would study more than SSC (see Table 4.4). None of them aspire for their girl child to study beyond SSC. It is even more interesting to know that about 37 per cent do not want their children to go out of their tea garden area (see Table 4.4). The highest aspiration they hold is that their boy child should be a clerk (Babu) in the garden office. Workers requirement in the tea industry can be broadly classified into three categories: those for plucking, those for field maintenance and those for capital field development. The operation of plucking, which comprises the bulk of labour absorption, accounts for as much as 70 per cent of total workdays (Sivaram 1996). Plucking is primarily done by women. Sometimes men are employed in this job in peak seasons. Men are generally employed in the field maintenance and capital field development. The job of field maintenance includes fertilizing, weeding, pruning, mulching, spraying insecticide and irrigation. Women are also sometimes employed in these operations, particularly in fertilizing, weeding and pruning. Table 4.4: Aspiration of Tea Plantation Workers About their Children s Education and future Career (Figures are percentages of total workers) Criteria Male Female Both How far do you want to educate your boy child Up to Above Class SSC and above As far as Possible Don t Know N. A How far do you want to educate your girl child Up to Above Class SSC and above As far as Possible Contd.

12 90 Labour and Social Issues in Plantations in South Asia Don t Know N. A What is your future plan about the career of your boy child Tea garden worker/ Clerk (Babu) Other service out of garden area Don t Know N. A What is your future plan about the career of your girl child Tea garden worker/ Clerk Other service Don t Know N. A Total No. of Workers Source: Survey of the tea garden workers conducted by the author during 1-15 October Capital field development involves three activities: new planting, replanting and filling of vacancies. Generally men are employed in all these activities. But the extent of all these activities is marginal. It can be noticed from Table 4.1 that over a nine year period ( ), total area under tea production increased by only 4.39 per cent. Annually, only 160 hectares are newly planted. Also in India and Sri Lanka, new plantation is marginal. Replanting in South Asia, particularly in Bangladesh is also very slow. As against a targeted rate of 1.5 to 2 per cent per annum, it is only about 0.4 per cent in Bangladesh and India and 0.7 per cent in Sri Lanka (Sivaram 1996). Filling, which is carried on to increase plant density per unit area, is also very slow. But male labour absorption in the plantation industry is much higher than that of female workers over the last few years (Table 4.5). It can be noticed from Table 4.5 that over the period of three years ( ), employment of men increased far more than their population growth. But employment of women increased less than their population growth. During the last few years, more and more men are employed in the plantation sector since being geographically isolated they do not get any job opportunity elsewhere. The table shows that both adolescents and children are increasingly being thrown out of the labour market as time passes on, although the right to employment for heirs is ensured by an agreement. The problem of unemployment among adolescent and children is very acute. During our survey many respondents reported that their children are forced to get involved in illegal activities due to unemployment. Moreover, because of this unemployment, dependency ratio is very high among the tea plantation workers. As can be seen from Table 4.5, of the total population of 3,53,407 persons, 1,12,251 are employed representing around 68 per cent dependents. It means that one earning member has to maintain more than two persons.

13 Working Conditions in The Bangladesh Tea Plantation Industry 91 Table 4.5: Total Population and Number of Workers Employed in the Tea Estates Male Female Adolescent Children* All Year Total Workers Total Workers Total Workers Total Workers Total Workers Popula- (Resident Popula- (Resident Popula- (Resident Popula- (Resident Popula- (Resident tion Permanent tion Permanent tion Permanent tion Permanent tion Perma- + Resident + Resident + Resident + Resident nent + Temporary) Temporary) Temporary) Temporary) Resident Temporary) ,324 44,030 95,413 45,537 50,661 11,085 1, ,46,200 1,09,160 (46.7) (47.7) (22.2) (8.1) (31.5) ,672 47, ,904 10,400 1,06, ,50,268 1,11,945 (49.5) (46.7) (20.8) (7.7) (32.0) ,672 47,718 98, ,779 10,620 1,08,345 8,370 3,53,407 1,12,251 (49.9) (47.1) (20.9) (7.7) (32.0) Growth over the period of three years Source: Bangladehiyo Cha Sangsad, Annual Report Note: Figures within parenthesis indicate labour force participation *. Children category workers are not child labour. They are sons and daughters of plantation workers and belong to different ages. Child labour is almost absent in the plantation sector 3.2 Socio-economic and Health Conditions of the Tea Plantation Workers Socio-economic and health conditions of tea plantation workers have important bearings on their productivity. Analysis of these conditions also gives an idea whether the tea workers are enjoying their right to decent work and living. Social dialogue to improve the conditions of tea plantation workers can not be promoted without having an idea of the socio-economic conditions of the tea workers. Therefore, an attempt has been made in this section to examine the socio-economic conditions of tea plantation workers Socio-demographic conditions of the tea plantation workers l Age, education and training received Age and experience have direct bearing on the pluckers productivity. Findings of a

14 92 Labour and Social Issues in Plantations in South Asia study show that good pluckers have over 20 years of experience and their age is seen as a helpful attribute (Sivaram 1996). To have 20 years of experience a workers must be at least 35 years old since a tea worker does not start work before the age of 15 years as child labour is almost absent in the tea sector. Findings of our survey show that about 51 per cent of the workers are below 35 years old (see Table 4.6). The average age of the female worker is a little more than 33 years, while that of the male workers is about 37 years. Hence, efficiency of male workers is supposed to be more than that of female workers. For young workers, training is a means of improving their productivity. Table 4.6 shows that only about 26 per cent of the plantation workers received some kind of training. Education is another means of improving their productivity. But most of the tea workers are illiterate. It can be seen from Table 4.6 that about 81 per cent of female workers as opposed to about 37 per cent of their male counterparts are illiterate. This sharp gender gap in education is more clearly revealed in figure 3. Thus, male workers are more endowed with efficiency factor. Figure 3: Gender gap in education among the tea plantation workers in Bangladesh Percentage of Worker illiterate/can sign only and Above Male Female Label of Education l Martial status and number of children ever born Marriage is detrimental to the female workers productivity since it increases domestic responsibility and subsequent demands on women s time. Unlike female garment workers, most female tea workers were found to be married (Table 4.6). Early marriage is prevalent among them. The result of the present survey reveals that more than 94 per

15 Working Conditions in The Bangladesh Tea Plantation Industry 93 cent of the female workers got married at the age of 17 years or before whereas the minimum age for marriage is 18 years. About half of them got married at the age of 14 or before. Being married at such an early age, the female tea workers become mothers at a very early age as well, and on an average, they bear four children. Half of them bear more than this average number. Among the plantation workers, child mortality is found to be very high. About 56 per cent of the married female workers reported that they have at least one dead child. It can be noticed from Table 6 that three per cent of the female workers have six or more than six dead children. High rate of childbirth reduces the productivity of the female workers since it is detrimental to women s health. Moreover, so many pregnancies demand heavily on women s time. Male workers are free from all these problems. Table 4.6: Distribution of the Sample Tea Plantation Workers by Selected Socio-demographic Characteristic and Sex (Figures are percentages of total workers) Characteristic Male Female Both Age Group Upto Mean Age Marital Status Unmarried Currently married Widow/divorced/reported Age at Marriage Up to 10 years years years years and above Mean of age at marriage Education Illiterate Can sign only Contd.

16 94 Labour and Social Issues in Plantations in South Asia and Above Training Received Yes No Size of Household Up to 2 persons persons and above Mean size of family No. of Dead Children (For married Women only) and more Number of Dependents per household % of Children above 5 years attended school Whether gone to Thana Head Quarter Yes No Total No. of Workers Source: Survey of the tea garden workers conducted by the author during 1-15 October Note: Henceforth the source of all other tables used in this report is the same survey unless stated otherwise. l Size of household and number of school-going children Size of household may be a positive factor affecting the productivity of a plucking worker if there is a provision to add to the individual plucker s effort by the family members. In Kenya, productivity of a plucker is more than double of a Bangladeshi plucker mainly because of the assistance provided by the family members. But in Bangladesh, there

17 Working Conditions in The Bangladesh Tea Plantation Industry 95 is no such system. Therefore, in Bangladesh, the big size of a family is a negative factor affecting the productivity of female pluckers since the domestic demands of big household is very high on them. However, the average size of the tea workers household is not bigger than the national average. The average size of the tea workers household has been found to be 5.6 persons (see Table 4.6). Almost the same size of tea workers household has been obtained from other studies on tea plantation workers (Khan 1991, BPMI 1997). It was found that the size of the household of about half of the tea workers is more than this average size. Among the family members, 32 per cent are adult male, 30 per cent are adult female and the remaining 38 per cent are children. Sex ratio is 98.6, which indicates male outnumbers the females. At the national level also, male outnumbered female (Census of 2001). Most of the families are nuclear families (59 per cent). On an average, a tea worker s family has three children. About half of the currently married women have children below the age of five years. More than 10 per cent of the currently married women have children bellow the age of one year. But there is no crèche facility, whereas according to the Tea Plantation Labour Rules, 1977, in every tea plantation, there shall be provided and maintained a suitable room or rooms for the use of children under the age of six, of women workers. In the absence of any crèche facilities, these women cannot stay in their work place for a long time. This situation affects their productivity very badly. However, once the children are at school, the mother s plucking efficiency increases. But the findings of the present survey show that more than 44 per cent of the children above five years never attended school. l Alcoholism Habit of taking alcohol among the tea plantation workers is pervasive although trade union leaders claimed that this habit decreased significantly due to their motivational activities. Traditionally, garden authorities themselves supplied alcohol among the tea workers mainly to keep them confined within the boundary of the garden. Now they have the practice of preparing their own drink known as Halida. Both men and women drink this local brew almost every evening. In general, women drink less, through during their festivals both drink profusely. This affects their productivity adversely. Moreover, it also shrinks their income substantially Economic Conditions of the Tea Plantation workers l Household Income Size of income is the best indicator of the economic conditions of a person. But this indicator can not reveal the economic conditions of the tea workers properly since a permanent tea worker gets many facilities in kind. A permanent tea plantation worker

18 96 Labour and Social Issues in Plantations in South Asia gets a house including water and latrine facilities, schooling facilities for the children, health care facilities and ration or cultivable land facilities from the garden authorities. In addition to all these facilities, about 72 per cent of the tea workers have cows or goats, more than 52 per cent keep poultry, and about 23 per cent have fruit and vegetable patches. All these facilities, however, vary according to the category of the garden (see Table 4.7). Findings showed that 51 and 43 per cent of the household sell a part of their milk and poultry products at nearby markets. Selling home-grown fruits and vegetables is another source of family income. Findings of the present survey show that more than 15 per cent of the tea plantation families sell vegetable and fruits. In future, income from this source will be increased further as trade unions begin to supply HYV seed of various vegetables. Besides selling, they also consume their own vegetables, fruits, cattle and poultry products and thus save expenditure on these items. Selling of firewood is also an important source of income of the tea workers household (see Table 4.7). Findings show that only 11 per cent of the households do not have any second source of income (see Table 4.7). Number of earning family members is another determinant of household income of the tea plantation workers. Findings show that most of the households of the tea plantation workers (about 92 per cent) have more than one earning member. About 31 per cent of households have more than two earning members. Earning members are more in the female workers households than in male workers household (Table 4.7). Number of earning members per family varies according to the category of garden (Table 4.7). It was found that most of the earning members are employed in plantation work. It is mainly due to the fact that the tea industry management by agreement provides work to at least one child. Moreover, as the plantation population is geographically isolated, they find difficulty in getting jobs elsewhere. Monthly income of tea workers households has been estimated taking all these sources of income into consideration. This estimated income has been presented in Table 4.8. It can be seen from the table that the amount of household income varies according to the category of tea estate. It is mainly due to the fact that weekly wage rate and facilities in kind vary according to the category of tea garden. It can be noticed from the table that more than 57 per cent of female workers employed in the A category estate as opposed to only about 13 per cent of their counterparts employed in the C category tea estate were given cultivable land by the garden authority. Similar is the case with other sources of income. For all categories of garden, monthly household income of the tea workers has been estimated at Tk It is very interesting to notice from Table 8 that there is very little difference between the monthly income of the female and male workers households. Unlike the garment industry, where also women are heavily employed, there is no gender discrimination in the tea industry. It has been found that

19 Working Conditions in The Bangladesh Tea Plantation Industry 97 Table 4.7: Economic Conditions of the Tea Plantation Workers by Category of the Tea Estate and Sex of Workers Economic conditions Category of Tea Estate (Figures are percentages of total workers) Category A Category B Category C All Categories Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Both Sources of income other than wages from plantation work* Cultivable land Cow/Goat Poultry Fruits and vegetable Selling of fire wood Other sources (shop, tailoring etc) Have no other source of income No. of Earning Members Mean Number of Family Member involved in Plantation Mean of member Monthly Household Income of Tea Plantation Workers Up to Tk Tk Tk Tk Tk Tk Total no. of worker Mean monthly income (Tk.) Per capita income per month Total No. of Workers Note: * Addition of percentages may not equal to 100 since in many cases one respondent mentioned more than one source of income.

20 98 Labour and Social Issues in Plantations in South Asia in the tea industry, gender discrimination is absent both in wage rate and other facilities. Whatever difference is noticed in the male and female workers weekly income and their household income is due to difference in their efficiency. Per capita monthly household income has been estimated at only Tk 339, which is far below the per capita monthly income in the agricultural sector. l Living Conditions The tea industry management provides each permanent worker with a house. But husband and wife do not get two houses even if they are permanently employed in the tea plantation. Workers, both male and female, have a right by tradition or convention to live in this house as a family unit and use the surrounding courtyards as a perk of their employment. Their children inherit this house after their death. Living conditions in these houses were found to very subhuman. More than five people live in a room of only 222 square feet. Cooking and living are done in the same room. It was observed during our field visit that in many cases, cows and goats are reared in a corner of the same room by building a partition. Not only is the room small, but its windows and doors are also very small. Most of the rooms have mud walls and straw roof (see Table 4.8). In most cases, maintenance of these houses is very poor. The workers reported that the management of the garden is quite indifferent about the repair and maintenance of their houses, although the management reported that they maintain the houses they built regularly. During the rainy season, living conditions in such houses becomes deplorable since rainwater enters the room through the broken roofs. In about 33 per cent cases, the tea workers built a second room at their own expense. It is very disappointing to know that in this age of technological development, about 68 per cent of the tea workers use open space as their toilet. More men than women use open space. Only about 19 per cent of the workers reported that they use sanitary toilet. This defecation practice has not changed over time. Findings of a survey conducted more than 10 years ago showed that 71 per cent of plantation workers used open space for defecation (Khan 1991). One alarming aspect to point out from Table 8 is that about 30 per cent of workers drink water from wells. It was found that most wells are uncovered. The number of tubewells was also found to be very few. Female workers complained that due to the shortage of tubewell they have to walk a long distance to collect water. It is a violation of the Tea Plantations Labour Ordinance, 1962, according to which the employer should ensure the supply of adequate quantity of pure drinking water. Very few households (a little more than 10 per cent) use electricity even though there is no supply of electricity in the labour line. But the tea workers were very honest in reporting that in most cases they use electricity illegally. All workers reported that they use firewood for cooking.

21 Working Conditions in The Bangladesh Tea Plantation Industry 99 Table 4.8: Distribution of the Sample Tea Plantation Workers by Living Conditions and Category of Tea Estate (Figures are percentages of total workers) Living Conditions Nature of Housing Category of Tea Estate Category A Category B Category C All Categories Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Both Brick wall with tin roof Mud wall with tin roof Mud wall with straw roof Bamboo wall with straw roof Others No. of Rooms Mean size of room (sq. ft.) Floor space per person (sq. ft.) Type of Latrine Sanitary latrine with brick wall Katcha latrine Open space Sources of Drinking Water Tubewell Tap Well Others Use of Electricity Yes No Total No. of Workers

22 100 Labour and Social Issues in Plantations in South Asia Living conditions do not vary significantly according to the sex of the workers and the category of the tea estate. As can be seen from Table 4.8 workers employed in the A category gardens have little better living conditions than those employed in the B and C category estates. Brick built housing facilities and electricity facilities are comparatively more in the A category estates Health Status of the Tea Plantation Workers l Incidence of Diseases and Treatment Pattern Health and productivity of the workers are highly correlated. One of the main reasons for low productivity among tea workers is their very poor health. Findings of the survey showed that only about two per cent of the female workers as opposed to more than 24 per cent of their male counterparts did not experience any illnesses during the month prior to the interviews. On an average, a female worker fell ill 3.1 times during the month prior to the interviews. Whereas a male worker fell ill 2 times during the same period. The frequency of suffering from fever (particularly malaria), diarrhea/dysentery/ stomach pain, physical weakness, eye pain and headache were found to be very high (see Table 4.9). They also suffer from certain chronic diseases like gastric and urinary tract infection, chest pain, etc. Tuberculosis was also found to be prevalent among them. It is, however, very encouraging to see from Table 4.9 that 95 per cent of the sick female workers and more than 83 per cent of sick the male workers took treatment for their illnesses. The tea garden management is responsible for providing the workers with all kinds of treatment facilities. Figure 4 shows that 79 per cent of the sick workers took Figure 4: Treatment Pattern among the Tea Plantation Workers Self Treatment Quack Doctor 7% 6% Other Doctor 5% Govt. Hospital 3% Garden s doctor /hospital/clinic Govt. Hospital Other Doctor Quack Doctor Self Treatment Garden s doctor /hospital/clinic 79%