Tea estate workers threaten indefinite strike from Jan 25

Tea estate workers on Saturday threatened to launch an indefinite strike at all tea gardens in Sylhet division if their demand for cancellation of a special economic zone in Habiganj was not met before January 25.
The workers are also pressing for recognition of their right to ownership of all tea garden lands.
They issued the threat from a rally held under the banner of Chandpur-Begum Khan Bhumi Rakkha Committee at Chunarughat upazila in Habiganj.
Leaders in the rally said they would go on the strike, if the prime minister Sheikh Hasina would not make any announcement on the issue during her visit to Sylhet scheduled for January 21.
The workers of 23 tea gardens of the Lashkarpur valley have been waging the movement for a month to meet the
demands.
The stalemate was created when the Duncan Brothers handed over 511 acres of  land of the two tea gardens at Chunarughat upazila to the Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority, following a government decision to set up the
SEZ in the area.
The government move drew a strong protest among the tea garden workers and they started demonstrating on the land chosen since December 13 to resist the local administration’s bid to demark the area.
The tea garden workers have been cultivating around 951 acres of land for generations as leaseholders of the Duncan Brothers, owners of the Chandpur Tea Garden and Begum Khan Tea Garden, sources in the Habiganj district administration said.

- See more at: http://newagebd.net/192011/tea-estate-workers-threaten-indefinite-strike-from-jan-25/#sthash.yQLRia54.dpuf