Tens of thousands of workers have gone on strike on tea plantations in Bangladesh in support of demands for wage increases.

Almost 150,000 workers walked out of work on the country's 232 tea plantations on Saturday, Sitaram Bin of the tea industry union told AFP.

No one will "pick tea leaves" or work in the tea-leaf processing factories until wage demands are met, the union representative said.

The minimum wage for the workers in the tea plantations of Bangladesh is currently 120 taka per day - this is about 1.20 euros according to the official exchange rate.

In view of the high inflation, the unions are demanding a wage increase to 300 taka per day, the employers have so far offered 14 taka.

In the past few days there had already been two-hour strikes.

According to researchers, tea pickers are systematically exploited

Worker Anjana Bhuyian said current wages are barely enough to buy enough food.

"Nowadays, we can't even buy coarse rice for our family with that sum," she told AFP.

This salary is out of the question of expenses for “medicine or the upbringing of the children”.

The Chairman of the Tea Industry Employers' Association, Shah Alom, pointed out that "the cost of production is increasing".

The prices for gas, fertilizer and diesel have risen.

However, according to researchers, tea plantation workers - located in some of the most remote parts of Bangladesh - have been systematically exploited for decades.

"Tea workers are like modern-day slaves," said Philip Gain of the Society for Environment and Human Development research group.

The plantation owners had the authorities responsible for setting the minimum wage under control and thus ensured "that wages were among the lowest in the world".

Protest over high fuel prices

Thousands of people in Bangladesh recently protested, among other things, against rising fuel prices in connection with inflation because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

According to the organizers, more than 30,000 demonstrators were on the streets of the capital Dhaka on Thursday, but according to the police fewer than 10,000 people.

The demonstrators also accused Prime Minister Sheik Hasina of doing too little to counter rising food prices and inflation and called for the government to resign.

Further protests have been announced for the week after next.

The government of India's eastern neighbor with a population of more than 160 million raised fuel prices by 52 percent last week.

As a result, the prices of other goods such as food or clothing also rose.

As part of the austerity measures, the government imposed power cuts of one hour per day and instructed factories to schedule days off on different days depending on the area in order to better share electricity consumption.

The Bangladesh government also recently asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for $4.5 billion in aid, local media reported.

Most recently, India's southern neighbor Sri Lanka, with its approximately 22 million inhabitants, experienced months of mass protests during its worst economic crisis in decades.

Sri Lanka's president fled to Singapore in mid-July.