ABSTRACT This article aims to investigate the true situation of rights and agency of the Bangladeshi teagarden workers, drawing insights from James Scott’s theory of ‘public’ and ‘hidden’ transcripts and employing multi-sited ethnography. We collected data through qualitative in-depth interviews, case studies, focus group discussions, and direct observation for this study. Rights, in Scottian terms, are the public transcript to produce agency of the workers but they are, of course, facades. Agency does not truly exist for tea workers. The tea companies strategically dominate the workers for their profit maximisation and industrial sustainability, which constrains workers’ individual and collective bargaining capacity. Tea companies’ shrewd manipulation of public transcripts like managerial prerogatives, worker benefits like registration and free education and even use of alcohol addiction and corruption of the police and courts allow them to pursue a hidden transcript of domination and control. Co-opted trade union leaders, supported by the ruling Party, do little to protect workers’ rights and interests but join with the companies to squelch any attempt to create truly representative trade unions.

中文翻译：

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穷人的声音：揭开孟加拉国茶叶工人权利与代理之间的联系的神秘面纱

摘要 本文旨在调查孟加拉国茶园工人的权利和代理的真实情况，从詹姆斯斯科特的“公开”和“隐藏”成绩单理论中汲取见解，并采用多地点民族志。我们通过定性深度访谈、案例研究、焦点小组讨论和本研究的直接观察收集数据。权利，用苏格兰语来说，是产生工人能动性的公开记录，但它们当然是表面。对于茶工来说，代理并不真正存在。茶叶公司战略性地支配工人以实现利润最大化和产业可持续性，这限制了工人的个人和集体谈判能力。茶叶公司对管理特权等公开成绩单的精明操纵，工人福利，如登记和免费教育，甚至酗酒和警察和法院的腐败，使他们能够追求统治和控制的隐藏成绩单。在执政党的支持下，增选的工会领导人几乎没有保护工人的权益，而是与公司一起压制任何建立真正具有代表性的工会的企图。