Tea strike support plea to parties

Avijit Sinha, TT, Siliguri, Oct. 21: The joint forum of 23 tea garden trade unions today decided to appeal to all political parties to extend their support to the 12-hour general strike they had called across north Bengal on November 12 to press for a settlement on wage hike in the industry.

The forum, which comprises the trade unions of all principal political parties, except the Trinamul Congress, will also hold meetings at five places in north Bengal — Islampur, Darjeeling, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar — from November 1 to apprise the general public of the demand by the workers to revise the daily wage.

As of now, tea garden workers in the Darjeeling hills receive Rs 90 per day, while those in the plains are paid Rs 95 per day. The wage revision was due on April 1.

“We would appeal to every political party and social organisation to support the 12-hour general strike that we have called across north Bengal on November 12. We would also urge the BJP to call off the general strike in Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts on November 7 for the wage hike and support our strike,” said Chitta Dey, the convenor of the Co-ordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers.

The forum had also called for a 48-hour industrial strike in tea gardens on November 11 and 12.

Another decision of the forum is to hold workers’ meetings and demonstrations in every tea garden on November 8 and 9 before joining duty.

Dey said the current plucking season would be over in two weeks and there was an apprehension among labourers that a section of planters might drag the wage hike negotiations till the next season in March.