Deadlock ends on hill tea bonus

AVIJIT SINHA, TT, 12 October 2019,  Siliguri: The hill tea workers' bonus impasse was finally resolved on Friday at a tripartite meeting convened by the state labour department in Calcutta, with sources saying a senior officer had intervened to convince the planters to agree to a 20 per cent payout.
"We have agreed to pay the bonus at 20 per cent," said Sandeep Mukherjee, principal adviser, Darjeeling Tea Association.

Sources said the intervention of one of the senior-most officers at Nabanna had changed the scenario. "As a resolution to the impasse was elusive, a senior IAS officer had called the tea garden owners requesting them to pay bonus at 20 per cent… Then, state labour minister (Moloy Ghatak) intervened and the planters agreed to pay bonus at a rate of 20 per cent this time as a special case," said a source.

In Darjeeling, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Binay Tamang -- who was on an indefinite hunger strike demanding 20 per cent bonus for the 77,000-odd hill tea workers -- withdraw his "fast-unto-death" on the on the sixth day.

"The hill gardens will pay 60 per cent of the bonus within 10 days and the date and details of subsequent instalments of the remaining 40 per cent will be settled in talks by November," said a source..
 "We have agreed to pay the bonus at 20 per cent," said Sandeep Mukherjee, principal adviser, Darjeeling Tea Association.

Mukherjee mentioned that factors like "unprecedented politicisation of the issue" and "an attempt to prevent any deterioration of discipline among workers and law and order situation in the gardens" had prompted the planters to agree to the demand.

Sources privy to the discourse over the past few weeks, however, said that the intervention of one of the senior-most officers at Nabanna changed the scenario.

"As a resolution to the impasse was elusive, a very senior IAS officer had personally called the tea garden owners requesting them to pay bonus at 20 per cent… Then, state labour minister (Moloy Ghatak) intervened and the planters agreed to pay bonus at a rate of 20 per cent this time as a special case," said a source.

In Darjeeling, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Binay Tamang -- who was on an indefinite hunger strike at the Motor Stand demanding 20 per cent bonus for the 77,000-odd hill tea workers -- withdraw his "fast-unto-death" on the on the sixth day.

Initially, the planters had expressed their inability to pay bonus above 18.5 per cent, the rate fixed for the tea gardens of the Terai and the Dooars earlier through bipartite talks. The unions, on the other hand, insisted on 20 per cent.

Those representing the planters agreed to toe the Nabanna line, but asserted that they would pay the bonus in instalments. "They will pay 60 per cent of the bonus within 10 days and the date and details of subsequent instalments of the remaining 40 per cent will be settled in tripartite talks by November 2019," said a source. Ghatak will be present at that meeting, the source added.

The intervention of Nabanna not only ensured payment Tamang breaks his fast in Darjeeling on Friday of bonus for the workers, it also prompted the unions to promise restoration of normality in production. Over the last month, the unions had stopped dispatch of produce from the gardens, protested at estates every day and adopted a go-slow approach to their work.

As news of the decision made at the meeting in Calcutta reached the hills, the workers were jubilant and so were supporters of the Tamang lobby of the Morcha.

Tamang broke his hunger strike amid loud cheers from supporters. "His non-violent movement mounted pressure on the tea planters. It also prompted the state to convene and early meeting and ask the planters to accept the demand," said an elated supporter.

Later in the afternoon, Tamang wheeled into an ambulance and taken to Siliguri where the ailing leader will be admitted to a private nursing home, said party sources.

Union leaders who had launched a series of agitations expressed satisfaction at the outcome on Friday. "We struggled for two months and could achieve the demand. It is a major victory for all of us as we joined hands and went ahead with our struggle, ranging from gate meetings to go slows to relay mass hunger strikes, industrial and general strike and even fast unto death," said Saman Pathak, the Darjeeling district Citu secretary.

The turn of events came as a relief for those associated with tourism, the second major revenue-earning sector in the hills.

"It is a relief that the problem has been resolved. There was an apprehension that if the issue is not resolved, situation might change in the hills and can affect tourism. Now that the Diwali holidays are ahead, we are expecting a huge turnout of tourists," said Samray Sanyal, general secretary, Himalayan Hospitality & Tourism Development Network.