The Hindu Business Line : Bengal strike to result in `long-term damage' to tea industry

EXPRESSING anguish over the decision of trade unions to launch an indefinite strike in the tea gardens in North Bengal from July 11, to press for a wage increase for workers, the tea industry here has said that any strike at this stage will result in "long-term damage" to the industry, which has been in the grip of a recession for the last five years.

Addressing newspersons here, Mr K. David, Vice-Chairman of Indian Tea Association (ITA), said the industry was open to discussions with the workers' union on the issue of wage increase. However, this had to be a composite agreement with productivity-linked incentives and disincentives.

"The industry is keen to ensure that industrious workers earn more but that should not be the case with workers whose productivity leaves a lot to be desired," Mr David said. He added that around 30 per cent of the tea garden workers do not pluck as much as they should.

According to Mr David, the unions representing the tea garden workers were not agreeable to the idea of productivity linkage with regard to the wage revision. "We cannot allow the industry to commit harakiri," he said. The proposed strike will affect nearly 300 tea estates in North Bengal, including 70 in Darjeeling district, 200 in the Dooars and about 45 in the Terai region. A one-month strike is estimated to result in a loss of Rs 180 crore for the industry.

Mr David said the issue had been taken up at the highest levels in the Sate Government. Political compulsions must be buried and a decision must be taken with the long-term future in view. "The unions must understand and accept that, for the industry to survive in the long term, it is imperative to put in place a wage scheme that will incorporate appropriate incentives and disincentives," he said.

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