Meet on wages on Dec 22

TT, 8 December 2017, Siliguri: The state labour department has convened a tripartite meeting to discuss the issue of tea workers' wages at Uttarkanya here on December 22.

State labour minister Moloy Ghatak will be present at the meeting.

An official of the department has already sent letters to the tea planters' associations and tea trade unions, asking them to send representatives at the meeting.

The meeting, stakeholders said, is significant as no decision has been taken so far with regard to the tea workers' wages. Most of the unions want the state to fix minimum wage for the industry while the planters and a few unions want an interim hike in wages until the minimum wage is fixed.

Even now, tea workers are receiving wages at Rs 132.50 per day, on the basis of the last wage agreement, that has expired on March 31 this year. "The state would definitely try and resolve the issue ahead of rural polls," said an observer.