Gurung tea wage cry a year early

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, May 2: Bimal Gurung has demanded that the Darjeeling tea industry must increase the daily wage of workers from Rs 90 to Rs 113 next year, a condition that planters believe is difficult to fulfil given a fall in production in the past three years.

Gurung’s demand for the hike almost a year before the revision is due has come at a time the GNLF has stepped up efforts to revive its activities in the hills, especially in the gardens.

Recently, the GNLF formed several village committees in the estates.

Gurung said the GTA Sabha would always stand by the tea workers and that the management must ensure that all fringe benefits, like firewood, umbrellas and medical facilities were given to the workers.

“Unlike in the past, the management does not have to bother about connectivity as the GTA is constructing and maintaining roads in the gardens. Earlier, the management had to shell out funds. The hike we are demanding is reasonable,” Gurung told a gathering on May Day at the Motor Stand here.

“We want the industry to increase the daily wage from Rs 90 to at least Rs 113. Our trade union must start demanding that the hike must not be less than Rs 23,” said the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president.

The wages of garden workers are revised every three years and the next revision is due on April 1, 2014. During the last revision in 2011, the daily wage was increased by Rs 23 (from Rs 67 to 90), which was the highest hike in the history of the hill tea industry.

In 2007, the industry had agreed to a cumulative hike of Rs 13.10 over three years. The wage was hiked by Rs 4.10 from Rs 53.90 for the first year followed by Rs 4.50 each in the next two years. In 2011, Morcha had refused to a cumulative hike and its ability to ensure a substantial increase (Rs 23) had helped consolidate the party’s position in the gardens. But the industry feels it can’t afford a big hike this time.

“Wage revision takes place after a bipartite meeting of tea unions and the management. Previous precedents do not come into play while deciding hike. The health of the industry is most important and at the moment, the production figures are not very encouraging,” said a planter.The hill gardens produce 20 per cent of the total annual produce during the first flush period.

“If the industry produced around 16 lakh kg of made tea in 2011, the figure went down by a few lakhs in 2012. This year, we are expecting 10 per cent fall in production compared to last year,” said a planter.

First flush, plucked from February-end to April-end, fetches the highest price.

“This year, there has been a drought-like condition in the hills. There has been rain of late but scattered. Crops in the gardens around the Sukhipokhari, Sonada and Kurseong belts have been damaged by recent hailstorms,” he said.

The 80-odd hill gardens used to produce around 13 million kg of tea every year in the mid-90s. But the figure has come down to 8 million kg.

“Absenteeism among workers is as high as 30 per cent,” said a planter.

The hill tea industry employs around 55,000 workers and another 15,000 are engaged during plucking seasons.