Unions firm on 20% bonus

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, 06 Sep 2019, Darjeeling: The Gorkha Jamukti Morcha (Binay Tamang) camp on Thursday said that if the Darjeeling tea industry cannot pay bonus at the rate of 20 per cent, the managements should close all 87 tea gardens in the hills and leave.

Karuna Gurung, president of the Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union, said: "We will not accept any rate which is less than 20 per cent this year. Even if workers have to forgo Dashai (puja) celebrations, we are ready for it but we will not accept bonus at any rate lower than 20 per cent. If they cannot pay, let them shut all 87 tea gardens and leave." The statutory minimum bonus rate is 8.33 percent wh- ile the maximum is 20 percent. Except last year, the industry had been paying 20 per cent for the past few years. Last year, bonus was disbursed at the rate of 15 per cent.

On Tuesday, Sandeep Mukherjee, principal secretary of the Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA), had cited a slump of 22 per cent in exports last year and a 50 per cent fall in production in the past two decades to plead that the industry cannot pay 20 per cent bonus this year.

Bonus is to be paid two clear Sundays before Dashami.

"In 2018, our exports were down by 22 per cent. In 1995, the Darjeeling tea industry produced 14 million kg of made tea. The production figure for 2018 was 7.5 million," Mukherjee had said. In 2017, when the hills saw closed a 104-day statehood agitation and shutdown, the figure was 3.5 million, Mukherjee said.

On Thursday, Gurung contested the assertion. "We can understand that the management suffered some loss in 2017 due to the agitation. However, there has not been such disruption in 2018. There has been no law and order situa- tion (problems) in 2018 and our workers have worked for eight hours day in and out. We will not accept this excuse." Gurung claimed the wages rates were low. "They talk about absenteeism but the daily wage in a tea garden is Rs 176, inclusive of Rs 9 for ration. If a workers goes to town for work he earns a minimum of Rs 400 to Rs 500 per day." Gurung also questioned plans to use machines for plucking. "Citing absenteeism, the management has started using machines to pick leaves. Can machines replace handplucking? Hand-plucking involves plucking only two- leaves-and-a-bud but this cannot be said with certainty if machine plucked. The quality from machine plucked leaves is anybody's guess." With both unions and the management firm on their stand, bonus meetings are expected to be stormy. The other association of the management, Indian Tea Association, usually agrees to the rate fixed with the DTA for Darjeeling gardens.