Hill tea supply threat over bonus deadlock

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT,  26 Sep 2019, Darjeeling: Hill tea unions have come together cutting across party lines and decided to "immediately stop" Darjeeling Tea dispatches to put pressure on managements for a 20 per cent bonus.

Five rounds of bipartite negotiations between the unions and managements have failed, with the industry offering bonus at 10.5 per cent of a worker's annual earnings. The unions had scaled down their demand to 19.5 per cent during the negotiations after initially asking for 20 per cent. The gardens of the Dooars and the Terai have agreed to disburse bonus at the rate of 18.5 per cent.

The Darjeeling Tea industry has 87 gardens, employing around 50,000 permanent and 15,000 temporary workers.

On Wednesday, tea unions of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Binay Tamang camp), CPM, Congress, Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League, Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists, Jana Andolan Party and the Trinamul Congress shared a common platform at a public meeting their leaders addressed at Darjeeling's Motor Stand.

"The meeting was historic as all trade unions came together on the same platform for a common issue for the first time," said Saman Pathak, a former CPM Rajya Sabha MP.

Later, the union leaders announced a slew of agitation programmes. "We will immediately stop dispatches of made tea to put pressure on the managements," said Amar Lama of the Jana Andolan Party. The Monsoon Flush variety is currently being plucked in the hill gardens.

The unions have decided to launch a "go-slow" agitation for one-and-half hours from 8am on Thursday. "During the go-slow, staff and sub-staff of gardens will observe a pendown strike," said Lama, adding that gate meetings would be organised at all gardens before the "go-slow" protests during which there would be would be no work.

The unions have called upon residents and civil socie- ty to back their bonus demand. "We request the town's shopkeepers to keep their shutters half-closed from 1pm to 3pm on Friday as a symbolic show of support to the workers," said Lama.

The union leaders met Anit Thapa, the Morcha leader who heads the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), in Kurseong on Tuesday.

"After our meeting, Anit Thapa has written a letter to chief minister Mamata Banerjee seeking the government's intervention," said Lama, indicating the unions believe that the bipartite negotiations had virtually failed.

The unions said although they had scaled down their bonus demand to 19.5 per cent "for the sake of negotiations", they would now go back to their initial call for 20 per cent.

The unions have appealed to senior leaders of all parties, including the hill MLAs and MPs, to take up the bonus issue. "We want top leaders of all the political parties to come to the forefront on this issue," said Lama..