Pay panel first, talks next: Unions - Workers up ante on tea wage

The closed factory of the Patkapara Tea Estate near Alipurduar on Monday. Picture by Anirban

 TT, Siliguri, Nov. 17: Tea garden workers' trade unions today told the labour department that they would not sit for talks on wage revision until and unless the government formed a committee to fix a minimum pay and issued a notification that the panel's recommendations would be implemented in a year.

The Joint Forum, a conglomeration of 23 unions, put forward the condition at a meeting with the labour department at Uttarkanya in Siliguri.

So far, six rounds of tripartite talks, involving trade unions, planters and the labour department, have been held to reach a settlement on the wage revision due since April 1.

The wages in tea gardens are revised every three years.

However, the unions have upped the ante this time and said they want a minimum wage fixed for the tea industry. Accordingly, labour minister Malay Ghatak had said early this month that a committee would be formed to recommend a minimum wage for the tea industry and the names for the panel had been sent to the chief minister's office for approval.

He said the committee would comprise representatives of unions and garden owners, government officials and legal experts.

After today's meeting, Chitta Dey, a leader of the Joint Forum and convenor of the Co-ordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers, said: "We have clearly told the labour department officials that the government will have to form the committee and issue a notification mentioning that the panel will make recommendations and the state will implement the same within one year. Only then, we will sit for talks on wage revision for an interim period, that is, till the minimum wages are fixed and implemented."

The Trinamul Congress's union is not a member of the Joint Forum.

As of now, workers in the Dooars and the Terai get a daily wage of Rs 95, while those in the Darjeeling hills are paid Rs 90.

Asked whether workers wouldn't be deprived of increased wages for a long time because of the condition put forward by the unions, Dey said: "Unless the government meets our demand on the minimum wage, there is no question of discussing the revision of wages. We know if the government delays the formation of the committee, the talks on the revision will get affected. But the workers, who have been receiving wages at earlier rate since April, are ready to bear for another three or six months as they desperately want the government to fix the minimum pay."

Another trade union leader said even if there was a consensus on the pay revision, it would be applicable till the minimum pay was fixed.

"We said at today's meeting that we would not attend another round of talks to discuss wage revision till the government constituted a committee on minimum pay. We have also said even if there is an agreement on the wage revision after the government initiates the process of forming the minimum pay panel, there should be a clause in the deal that the recommendations of the committee should be implemented in one year," said Ziaur Alam, the Jalpaiguri district secretary of the CITU.

Md. Rizwan, the joint labour commissioner in Siliguri who convened the meeting, said he would inform the superior officers about the unions' demands. "Trade unions have demanded the formation of a minimum wage committee, which will take some time. I will soon apprise my superior officers of the unions' conditions for talks on the wage revision in future," he said.

Observers said the government would have to yield to the unions' pressure as Trinamul was not a force to be reckoned with in the tea belt.

"The Trinamul trade union is also for fixing a minimum wage for the industry but it favours the immediate revision of wages. However, other trade unions are giving priority to fixing the minimum wage. They want the constitution of the committee on the minimum wage and a specific time frame for its functioning. Even today, Trinamul doesn't wield influence in the tea garden belt of north Bengal. Its union might have units in the gardens but does not enjoy the support of most of the workers. So, the government cannot move forward without taking other unions into confidence and will have to ultimately accept their demands," said an observer.