Unions' unity gets a boost - Gurung backs minimum tea wage

Bimal Gurung with leaders of the Joint Forum in Darjeeling on
Tuesday. Picture by Suman Tamang

Vivek Chhetri and Avijit Sinha, TT, Jan. 20: Bimal Gurung today assured the Joint Forum, a common platform of 24 trade unions of tea garden workers, that he would back the demand for minimum wages and there would be no separate negotiations to exact an interim wage hike for the industry in the hills.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president's assurance, as claimed by tea garden trade union of the party, will cement the unity of the forum, which suffered a setback when Gurung said on December 7 that he would call all tea garden owners in the hills for a meeting to get the interim hike in daily wage.

The forum comprises all operating trade unions in north Bengal, except that of Trinamul. Gurung gave the assurance when leaders of the forum met him in Darjeeling today.

Tilak Chandra Roka, the legal advisor to the Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union, the affiliate of the Morcha, said: "Our party president has promised that he will back the demand for the implementation of minimum wages and there will be no separate negotiations on interim pay hike for the hills. It will be a united fight."

Ziaur Alam, the convenor of the forum and the Jalpaiguri district secretary of the Citu, said the government's draft proposal on the wage hike was a black proposal.

"We have already declared the draft proposal on the wage hike as a black proposal. We think it is anti-labourer and we have decided to seek the support of constitutional bodies like the GTA, governor of Bengal, Opposition leader of in the Assembly and also MLAs and MPs in the region to press for our demand (minimum wage). Our meeting with Bimal Gurung was fruitful and we will together fight for the rights of the workers."

The draft, presented by the state government on December 12, 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 into a total hike of Rs 37.50 for those who earn Rs 95 per day now.

The forum has been demanding that the government first issue a notification on the implementation of minimum wages before the rate of the interim hike is announced.