The Hindu Business Line : Bonus hiked for Bengal tea garden workers

Kolkata, Sept. 11 The tea garden workers in West Bengal, employed in the gardens in Darjeeling district and Dooars and Terai regions, will get bonus for 2007-08 at higher rates vis-a-vis those in 2006-07 following the signing of the agreements here recently between various unions of tea garden workers and the associations of tea garden owners, according to tea industry sources.

The bonus payment will be made before the Durga Puja due in the first week of October.

The tea gardens located in Dooars and Terai regions will pay bonus for 2007-08 at the following rates: Group A gardens at 13.5 per cent as compared to 11.9 per cent in 2006-07, Group B at 12 per cent (10.5 per cent), Group C at 10.8 per cent (9.5 per cent) and Group D gardens at 9 per cent ( 8.5 per cent).

Not all the gardens in Dooars and Terai regions gave authorisation to the Indian Tea Association, Tea Association of India, Indian Tea Planters’ Association and Terai Indian Planters’ Association, the bodies of tea garden owners in the regions, to negotiate the bonus issue on their behalf.

2 lakh to benefit

A total of 164 gardens gave the authorisation and accordingly, the new bonus agreement is expected to benefit an estimated two lakh workers in the regions.

The bonus agreement for the workers in Darjeeling gardens was settled at higher rates than those for the Dooars and Terai gardens — a trend persisting for the past few years. Thus, the new agreement provides the following rates: Group A gardens will pay at the rate of 14 per cent as compared to 12.6 in 2006-07, Group B at 13 per cent (11.6 per cent), Group C at 12 per cent (10.6 per cent) and Group D at 10.25 per cent (9.25 per cent).

There are a total of 87 gardens in Darjeeling district, of which 77 are members of Darjeeling Tea Association, the body of Darjeeling tea planters. However, even those gardens which are not members of DTA are to pay the bonus at the agreed rates. This means a total of about 52,000 permanent and another 16,000 to 17,000 temporary tea workers in Darjeeling district stand to benefit.

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Bonus hiked for Bengal tea garden workers