In the context when South Asian economies are struggling to create adequate jobs, two sectors, namely tea and garment industries, have been playing a crucial role in providing significant employment opportunities to the vast labour force in South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The tea plantation and garment sectors in South Asia share some common features that have relevance in discussing minimum wage. First, both sectors employ a large proportion of women workers and workers in these sectors come largely from socially disadvantaged groups. Second, both sectors are part of national and global value chains, where significantly larger proportions of profits are made at the retail end. This way, global market situations impact the end values, which in turn affect the economics of manufacture in the local country. Third, large income inequalities coexist with high rates of inflation across South Asia. Collectively, these factors adversely impact bargaining power and wages of workers.[1]

There is a lack of decent employment in tea and garment sectors in the region. For instance, the minimum wages in the tea sector in West Bengal and Assam are not implemented, and interim wages are often enacted, which are insufficient for workers to maintain a decent standard of living. Similarly, the minimum wages for tea plantation workers in other countries, including Nepal (NPR 500 per day) and Bangladesh (BDT 170 per day), are inadequate and do not increase in line with the inflation rate. Likewise, the minimum wage in the garment sector in Bangladesh, set at BDT 8,000, is also too low. Workers frequently have to struggle and protest for wage increases, and even when minimum wage adjustments are made, they often fall short of providing a decent living.

Amidst this background, LDC Watch/South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE) is organizing a panel discussion “Battling inequality in tea and garment value chains: Advancing beyond minimum wage to living wage” to discuss the wage and social protection issues in the two sectors at the World Social Forum on 17 February 2024. The panel discussion will further explore how workers can be socially and economically protected by going beyond the minimum wage and applying the living wage concept in the production and distribution chains, especially in the post-pandemic world. Importantly, we will hear from frontline CSOs on wage challenges, and how living wage would make a difference.

Speakers:

1. Babu Mathew (TBC), Keynote Speaker

2. Aabida Ali, Pakistan

3. Khalid Mahmood, LEF, Paksitan

4. Chamila Tusari, Sri Lanka

5. Sarinee Achavanuntakul, SalForest, Thailand

6. Mohiuddin Ahmed (TBC), Bangladesh

7. Garment Trade Workers Union, Bangladesh (TBC)

8. Sushovan Dhar, India

9. Santa Kumar Rai, Nepal

and more.