Tea-belt shut down today.... TDCSU defies calls made by Joint Forum
SNS, Siliguri, 9 November 2014: Come tomorrow, people living in the tea belt in northern north Bengal will have to endure three days of shutdown – two-day industrial and one-day general – after three long years.
The BJP-backed Terai Dooars Cha Shramik Union (TDCSU) has called a 12-hour general strike in the tea belt in Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Mekhliganj sub-division of Cooch Behar tomorrow, demanding settlement of the tea workers’ wage issue. In calling the strike, the TDCSU has defied calls made by the Joint Forum (JF), an umbrella organization of 24 trade unions in the tea industry, except Inttuc.
The JF had requested the BJP leadership to lend support to its 48-hour industrial strike in the tea belt in four districts, including Darjeeling, which will begin on 11 November. JF leaders have also decided to observe a 12-hour general strike on 12 November, demanding a wage structure based on the Minimum Wages Act. The strikes come as a series of tripartite and bipartite meetings ended inconclusively earlier. State labour minister Moloy Ghatak last held a meeting with leaders of trade unions, including those from the JF, in Kolkata on 5 November.
In the meeting, JF leaders did not accept the rate of increment proposed by the planters’ apex body, and told him that they would go on a strike from 11 November.
Talking to reporters here on 5 November, Darjeeling MP SS Ahluwalia had said that his party had not received a proposal from the Joint Forum. “The party will do nothing that will break the unity among tea workers,” Mr Ahluwalia had said. However, TDCSU president Debabrata Mitra said: “We have not joined the Joint Forum.
“We have received a proposal for extending support to the Joint Forum. But we have decided to go it alone and called the 12-hour strike on 10 November.”
BJP state secretary Biswapriya Roy Chowdhury said, “The BJP has called a strike separately. Later, we will consider the plea of the Joint Forum.”
JF leader Abhijit Majumdar said the BJP-backed trade union is not a member of the JF. “Only operating trade unions have come under the JF,” he said.
The JF had requested the BJP leadership to lend support to its 48-hour industrial strike in the tea belt in four districts, including Darjeeling, which will begin on 11 November. JF leaders have also decided to observe a 12-hour general strike on 12 November, demanding a wage structure based on the Minimum Wages Act. The strikes come as a series of tripartite and bipartite meetings ended inconclusively earlier. State labour minister Moloy Ghatak last held a meeting with leaders of trade unions, including those from the JF, in Kolkata on 5 November.
In the meeting, JF leaders did not accept the rate of increment proposed by the planters’ apex body, and told him that they would go on a strike from 11 November.
Talking to reporters here on 5 November, Darjeeling MP SS Ahluwalia had said that his party had not received a proposal from the Joint Forum. “The party will do nothing that will break the unity among tea workers,” Mr Ahluwalia had said. However, TDCSU president Debabrata Mitra said: “We have not joined the Joint Forum.
“We have received a proposal for extending support to the Joint Forum. But we have decided to go it alone and called the 12-hour strike on 10 November.”
BJP state secretary Biswapriya Roy Chowdhury said, “The BJP has called a strike separately. Later, we will consider the plea of the Joint Forum.”
JF leader Abhijit Majumdar said the BJP-backed trade union is not a member of the JF. “Only operating trade unions have come under the JF,” he said.
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