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CHENNAI, April 17

THE daily wages for plantation workers in Tamil Nadu is being disbursed according to the wage settlements finalised between the trade unions and managements and the situation is normal, the Labour Minister, Mr V.D. Natarajan, has said.

Replying to a calling attention motion in the Assembly on Wednesday, he said the tea plantation company managements had proposed to reduce workers' daily wages in a bid to cut down production costs. The move was aimed at tackling low priced imports, heavy competition in export markets and the losses suffered by them.

Through an announcement under Section 9(A) of the Industrial Disputes Act, the managements had proposed to terminate the agreements finalised in January and May 2000 covering the workers, supervisors and non-staff, and the incentive pay finalised in July 1996. The daily wage was to be cut to Rs 60 from Rs 76.85 finalised under the agreements, he said.

However, the issue had been taken to Court, and the Madras High Court had ordered that the work conditions could not be changed when the issue was pending before the conciliation authorities. Meanwhile, the Labour Department officials continued with the efforts to arrive at conciliation, and in accordance with the court ruling, ordered that the work conditions should not be changed.

Regional workers' unions had also arrived at interim agreements pending a final decision on the issue. For instance, the Anamalai Planters Association entered into an interim agreement with the workers on April 3, effective from January 1, 2002, pending a final decision. The Nilgiris Planters Association and the Nilgiris-Wayanad Planters Association arrived at an agreement on February 5 and March 14, the Minister said.

The rubber plantations had also announced a proposal to reduce the daily wages with effect from April. The daily wage was to be fixed at Rs 60 for workers in plantations less than 300 acres and Rs 65 for those working in plantations larger than 300 acres against the existing wage of Rs 71.75.

However, conciliation efforts were on and the Labour Department officials had recommended that the wage cut should not be implemented pending a final decision. There were over 66 registered and 228 unregistered rubber plantation companies in Kanyakumari district, which employed over 6,899 workers, he said.

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