The Hindu Business Line : Mixed reaction to tea sector wage pact

THE historic wage agreement of the West Bengal tea industry may set new labour standards and productivity patterns, not just in other tea growing States but across all plantation-based industries in the country.

A day after the accord was initialled, chieftains of the industry came up with mixed reactions.

Though the general mood among the CEOs was positive, Mr P. Siganporia, Managing Director of Tata Tea, said it was "too lax and too little."

"Productivity norms that were set in the agreement should have been more stringent, but still it is a move in the right direction. Our costs are increasing, and against global competition only a productivity increase would help the industry to survive," Mr Siganporia told Business Line.

In this context, he spoke of the unequal competition being faced by the organised players from the small growers, who do not follow all the rules and regulations of the Plantation Act.

Mr Ullas Menon, Secretary-General of the Coonoor-based United Planters' Association of Southern India (UPASI), welcomed the agreement and said that other State Governments should help the industry in introducing productivity linkages in future wage agreements.

"In most existing agreements, there are incentives for extra plucking but no disincentives. It should be introduced. We are trying it both in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. We hope that this agreement will set the ball rolling."

However, Mr Shankar Narayanan, Labour Advisor to the Planters Association of Tamil Nadu, said such productivity-linked wage agreements were not new to the domestic plantation sector.

According to him, the existing agreements in the Kerala tea industry and rubber sector of Tamil Nadu are linked to productivity, but the norms have lost significance over the years.

"Yield in both these sectors has increased a lot, and therefore, the existing standards are of no use. We are trying to increase these standards but it is strongly opposed by the workers. We would have to address the issue soon," he added.

For instance, the existing agreement in the rubber sector states that the average daily tapping by a worker should be 8.5 kg. However, the yield had "gone up dramatically" and is nowhere less than 15 kg. "So, where is the incentive to produce more?"

Mr Siganporia said there was no need to replicate this agreement in the tea growing regions of Assam or South India as the dynamics of wage and production varied with each State.

It may be mentioned that the average plucking per worker per day in West Bengal is 20-22 kg.

In Assam, it is less than 20 kg, while in the South, where there is some amount of mechanised plucking, the average varies between 25 kg and 35 kg.

A senior tea official said that these average plucking standards were nowhere near the levels practiced in Kenya or Sri Lanka, the two major competitors of Indian tea in the global market.

Another interesting aspect is that the average plucking in some gardens managed by reputed tea companies is well over that incorporated in Monday's agreement.

A CEO of one such company fears that the agreement might lower the plucking standards in his gardens.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Move to provide farm goods prices on terminals

Supplyco to procure paddy every year

Farm initiative

Where are Pakistan's commodities headed?

`Serious cereal deficit unlikely in 2005-06'

Consumers getting rubber cheaper than last year
VAT comes to rescue despite prices ruling at record high

Fresh buying, rains inflate rubber prices

Bengal tea workers' stir ends as unions settle for productivity-linked wages

Demand improves at Coonoor tea auctions

Mixed reaction to tea sector wage pact

Kerala: Water levels increase in major reservoirs

Crop insurance awareness very low among farmer households: NSSO