Ahead of Tuesday’s resumption of deadlocked wage negotiations, the joint action council of trade unions in the plantation sector started an indefinite strike crippling regular work at almost all the major tea and rubber estates in Kerala on Monday.
The strike brought work to a standstill at all the corporate plantations, including those of Kanan Devan Hills Plantations in Munnar and Harrisons Malayalam Limited’s estates in various locations. Tea plantations were the most affected.
The call for the strike was given by the plantation units of all the major central trade unions to press for their demand of a ₹500 daily wage for plantation sector workers.
The first round of talks within the tripartite Plantation Labour Committee had collapsed on Saturday as both the managements and trade unions had refused to budge from their respective positions. The government, which is the third party in the committee, has scheduled the next round of talks for Tuesday.
C Vinayaraghavan, Chairman of the Association of Planters of Kerala, told BusinessLine that he was looking forward to Tuesday’s talks. He said the managements were ready for a reasonable increase in the daily wage, but ₹500 a day was far beyond the industry’s capacity to pay.
He also said that while the unions were demanding unreasonably high wages, they were reluctant to increase the productivity per worker. Currently, the minimum productivity of the tea-leaf plucker was a mere 21 kg and the managements wanted this to be raised to 31 kg. The managements were ready to pay extra for every kg above 31 kg. Likewise, the productivity of rubber tappers should be raised from the current 8 kg by tapping more trees, he said.
Meanwhile, the Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the government to take a pragmatic approach to the wage demand. CS Kartha, President of the industry body, said that the plantation industry was facing fluctuation in prices of commodities, rising costs, adverse weather conditions and low productivity.
What’s at stakeA resolution of the issue at Tuesday’s talks is crucial for the managements, the unions and the government.
The recognised unions, from across the political spectrum, are all keen to reassert their relevance as the Munnar women’s strike had achieved what they could not. The managements want to prevent a long strike that would wreak havoc with their revenue. And, for the government, which will shortly be tested in local body elections, keeping the plantation workers happy is politically important.