The Hindu Business Line : Bengal tea workers to observe 1-day stir

Kolkata, Aug 9 Over three lakh workers employed in 280 tea gardens in West Bengal will observe one day’s token strike on August 11 in protest of the failure of the wage talks between the unions, employers’ representatives and the State Government.

“The employers have offered an increase Rs 11.10 a day for three years as against our demand for nearly Rs 100 a day per worker,” Mr Samir Roy, Convenor of the Defence Committee of the Plantation Workers’ Rights, told Business Line over phone from Siliguri. “We’ll decide on our future course of action depending on what the state government decides after the August 11 strike,” he said pointing out that the tea garden workers in the State were denied of even the minimum wages stipulated for agricultural workers.

Ad hoc hike

Mr Chitta De, Convenor of the Coordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers, West Bengal, a body of 18 unions of tea garden workers, regretted that the employers would always insist on ad hoc increase whereas the unions were asking for a wage settlement on scientific basis.

“In Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the minimum wage of a tea worker was more than Rs 100 a day whereas it was Rs 53 which was uniform for all workers, irrespective of whether he was working for 10 years or one year. This was unacceptable. There was pressure from the State Government to avert the strike but that would not be possible as long as the employers would remain rigid in their stand,” Mr De added.

The wage revision has become due from April this year. A wage agreement, once signed, remains valid for three years.

More Stories on : Tea | Trade & Labour Unions | West Bengal

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