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The Bengal tea industry and workers' unions on Friday fixed the minimum wage for tea workers across the state to Rs 85 a day followed by an annual hike of Rs 5 for the next two years. The wage hike will come into retrospective effect from April 1 of this fiscal.
“The wage agreement will be for three years starting this fiscal and will apply to all workers across the State. The agreement will apply tea estates in both the Dooars and Terai regions and Darjeeling Hills,” Mr Purnendu Basu, West Bengal Labour Minister, told reporters at Writers' Building following a tripartite meeting.
Wage discrepancies for workers in tea estates of the Dooars and Terai region and in Darjeeling Hills have been a bone of contention for the workers unions in the State. While tea estates in Dooars and Terai have been paying Rs 67.50, their counterparts in Darjeeling were paying Rs 90.
According to officials present at the meeting, dues arising from payment of increased wages from April this year will be cleared in two instalments. One half of the instalments will be cleared in December this year, while the remaining will be paid before Holi.
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