Fix tea pay at Rs 500: Tribals

BIRESWAR BANERJEE, TT,  Dec 20, 2017, Siliguri: Representatives of the Adivasi Janshakti Morcha and Uttarbanga Cha Sramik Adhikar Manch - two bodies working for welfare of the tribal populace dwelling in north Bengal - said on Wednesday that the state should come forward and fix Rs 500 as the daily minimum wages for tea workers.

As of now, a tea worker gets Rs 132.50 every day.

"It is too meagre for a worker to run his family and meet even basic needs. We have seen how the erstwhile Left government has ignored the demand for minimum wages and the situation is same even during Trinamul's regime. We feel the state must act and take necessary steps to fix the minimum wages. We want the daily wage to be around Rs 500," said Jerome Lakra, the general secretary of the Adivasi Janshakti Morcha.

Lakra said the organisation was formed in 2014 for the welfare of tribals and protection of their rights.

It has over 10,000 members and support base in the 250-odd tea gardens in the Terai and Dooars, he claimed.

On December 22, the state labour department will hold a meeting at Uttarkanya here to discuss the tea wage issue. Representatives of tea planters' associations and trade unions have been called to the meeting.

"If nothing comes out of the meeting, we will launch a movement over the demand," said Lakra.

For the past two-three years, most of the tea trade unions, except those of Trinamul, have been organising different programmes over the minimum wages. This is the first time that organisations working for tribals' rights and not affiliated trade unions have planned similar moves.