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This is with reference to “Bengal tea workers to observe 1-day stir” (Business Line, August 10). The demands made by the Committee of Tea Plantation Workers, West Bengal, are unjustified. While comparing the Tamil Nadu/Kerala daily wage rate of Rs 100 vis-À-vis Rs 53 in West Bengal, the Union has overlooked the fact that in the North Indian tea plantation such as Darjeeling/Assam and West Bengal, there is the age-old custom of providing heavily subsidised food grains such as rice/sugar/wheat flour and cooking oil.

This is a labour welfare measure that is absent in the South Indian tea plantations. The monetary value of this subsidy needs to be considered by the Union while drawing a comparison. The Union’s contention that employers insist on ad hoc increase and not wage settlement on scientific basis is not correct.

The increment given is primarily to defray the cost of inflation. This being the case, the question of taking into account the experience of the workers does not arise. Inflation affects all alike irrespective of years of experience.

The Union must take into account these factors and realise that they are better off than their counterparts in other countries such as Kenya, where the Kenya Tea Growers Association (KTGA) does not subsidise foodgrains to the workers, has no concept of annual bonus and the eligibility criteria for gratuity is 10 years unlike five years in India.

Ashok Jayaram Bangalore

More Stories on : Letters | Trade & Labour Unions | Tea

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