Green Leaf Price: A Case Study of Dhamai Tea Estate, Maulvibazar

In Bangladesh,a total 100000 acres of land are under cover of tea plantation with a permanent labor force of 100000.Female workersare mostly preferred for plucking green leaf because of their sensitive fingertips suitable for tea plucking and lower inclination to unionism (Sharma and Das, 2009:69-70).Tea by its own characteristics requires cheap workforce which is a prerequisite for running the industry. Hence, workers-management feudal relationship is a commonplace which generates from labor wages especially in plucking green leaf. Workers want to pluck coarse and long leaf for increased weight as against management puts an embargo on it and restricts to pluck only tender leaf that makes best quality tea. Wages cut for lack of compliance by the workers in plucking tender leaf is a regular phenomenon creates frustration among workers, management’s policy to adopt piece rate in plucking in a garden where plucking is done on task basis from time immemorial are issues which involves entire work force to resort to create extreme law and order situation like strike,lockout, violence and even murder of garden owners.