Tea unions to renew agitation over pay

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, 31 Jul 2019, Darjeeling: The Joint Forum, a conglomeration of 27 trade unions of tea plantation workers, has decided to renew the agitation for the minimum wages and land rights from Thursday.

In another development, the trade union of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's Binay Tamang camp has again "started attending" the forum's meeting. The Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Union had left the forum as Tamang was cosying up to the chief minister This means only the trade union of the Trinamul Congress is not part of the forum. 

The BJP's Bengal Tea Plantation Workers' Union, whose president John Barla is the current Alipurduar MP, is already part of the forum .

Amar Lama, a leader of the Jana Andolan Party which is a constituent of the forum, said: "We have decided to renew our agitation for minimum wages, land rights and compensation for workers for the 104-day strike in the hills in 2017.

Forum members have decided to submit memorandums seeking fulfilment of their demands at the "nearest government offices" of tea gardens on August 1

"We have also sought an appointment with chief minister Mamata Banerjee. If we do not get any positive assurances on this demand, we will intensify our agitation after Independence Day," said Lama 

The JAP leader said the forum would submit memorandums to the "nearest government offices", instead of a centralised deputation, to ensure that workers could join duties The union leaders said the issue of fixing minimum wages was now in the court of the state government. "

The only thing left now is for the state government to announce minimum wages," said Lama The daily wage of garden workers is currently Rs 176 Asked about the sudden decision to be part of the forum, Karuna Gurung, the president of the Morcha union, said: "We were always part of the forum since its inception. 

However, because of certain political reasons we had stopped attending their meetings. It is just that we have again started attending their meetings

Bista on wage Darjeeling MP Raju Bista on Tuesday highlighted the condition of tea garden workers in north Bengal while defending the Code of Wages Bill, 2019, in Parliament A statement issued by Bista's office said: "He informed the House how tea gardens had been shut down, putting to risk the lives of thousands of workers and said the bill seeks to undo these historic wrongs"

He highlighted how the Wage Code Bill envisaged by the government will usher in a fresh wave of labour reforms replacing earlier Acts, namely, the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976," the statement stated.