State tables tea wage draft - 5 days for discussions, Joint Forum to meet on Friday

TT, Siliguri, Dec. 16: The state labour department today issued a draft wage agreement proposing a staggered hike of Rs 42.50 a day for workers in the hills and Rs 37.50 for those in the plains for the next three years.

Officials said they would wait for five days for suggestions from tea trade unions and planters.

The draft proposed a hike of Rs 22.50 a day (retrospectively from April 1, 2014 up to April 2015) for workers in the hills, followed by a raise of Rs 10 for the next two years. It means, a total hike of Rs 42.50 per day in three years for hill tea workers who now get Rs 90 a day. For workers in the Terai and Dooars, the state has proposed a hike of Rs 17.50 daily (retrospectively from April 1, 2014 to April 2015) followed by an increase of Rs 10 for the next two years. This translates to a total hike of Rs 37.50 for those who earn Rs 95 per day now.

The Joint Forum, a common platform of 23 trade unions, has said it would not sign the draft as it does not mention anything concrete about fixing the minimum wage. The forum has, however, said that it will hold talks with the constituent members on December 19 to take the final call.

After the talks at Uttarkanya here this afternoon, state labour minister Malay Ghatak said: “With today’s talks, eight rounds of tripartite meetings have been held to decide the revised rates of wages that is due since April 1 this year. Today, we placed a draft agreement before the trade unions and tea planters.”

He added: “They (the planters and unions) have been asked to go through it and submit their suggestions to our department in five days. We would wait for the next five days. Once we receive their opinions, we will sit and discuss with our officials and move ahead towards signing the agreement.”

The draft proposed an additional Re 1 per day for tea hands who work for five days a week and Rs 2.50 a day for those who work for six days a week. “There is a proposal to introduce attendance allowance which would be an additional sum over the revised rate of wage. This would discourage absenteeism and encourage workers to join duties,” a senior official in the labour department said.

The draft also proposed that arrears — as the hike would be effective from April 1 this year — would be paid in three instalments by August 31 next year.

Ziaur Alam, the convenor of the Joint Forum and the Jalpaiguri district Citu secretary, said: “The state is trying to help planters by advocating another three-year wage agreement with a hike on an ad hoc basis. But nothing much has been mentioned in it about our demand to fix the minimum wages. We feel that if the agreement is signed, the process to formulate the minimum wage would be delayed for another three years. We are not ready to sign the agreement.”

He said the Joint Forum would inform the state labour department of its decision.

A Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations representative said: “The gesture is good but we need to discuss the rates among ourselves. There are other issues pertaining to workers. We want these to be incorporated.”

Dola Sen, state president of the INTTUC, the Trinamul workers’ union which is not a part of the Joint Forum, said: “We feel the agreement should be signed at the earliest. Some unions are trying to do politics and delaying the negotiation process because of their own interests. We condemn such acts and we would hold a public convention here on December 22 to apprise workers about the wrong intentions.”