Planters take tea wage hike to High Court

MANAS R BANNERJEE, SNS, SILIGURI, 17 MAY 2023: Planters have filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court against the state government's decision to hike wages of tea workers from Rs 232 to Rs 250 a day on an interim basis.

A group of garden owners oft his region belonging to the Indian Tea Association (ITA) had earlier served a notification of the petition to all concerned, including trade unions, it is learnt.

Notably, state Minister in Charge for Labour Department Moloy Ghatak held a meeting with both planters and trade unions in Siliguri on 12 April and finally proposed the planters increase Rs 18 on an interim basis for tea workers, as the process for implementation of Minimum Wages was still pending despite a series of meetings of the Minimum Wages Advisory Committee over the past few years.

Significantly, the state government issued an advisory on 27 April on the decision to increase the wages with effect from 1 June, and on the same day, All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, addressing a gathering at Nagrakata, had also mentioned the revised daily rated wages of Rs 250 a day.

It may be noted here that the ITA had a few days ago said that state government's decision to hike the wages would "further aggravate the financial stress of producers and make tea estate operations unviable."

Asked to comment on the petition in the court, Minister Ghatak said: "The decision to go to the court is good. We will demand Minimum Wages for tea workers before the court. Minimum wages for tea workers would be Rs 9,300 per month."

Speaking to this correspondent over the phone, Mr Ghatak also said: "A total of 91 sectors me under Minimum Wages payment system. A few sectors, including tea plantations, were not within that system because wages for tea workers used to fixed through a tripartite agreement. Now we will appeal before the court for Minimum Wages."

Asked to comment, spokesperson of Joint Forum, a conglomeration of operating trade unions in tea plantations, Ziaul Alam, said: "Tea workers have landed in deep trouble following planters' decision to go to court since the state government could not take proper steps in an appropriate time, owing to its reluctance in the tea industry where the highest number of workers are involved."

"We have been demanding implementation of the Minimum Wages Act since 2015. Workers were not happy with the decision of daily rated wage hike on an interim basis, which happened around seven times," Mr Alam said, adding, "On the issue of productivity of the tea industry, additional remuneration for Extra Leaf Price for workers should be fixed through a bipartite agreement, which is still pending in the last seven years. Interestingly, the recent advisory was applicable for Registered Tea Gardens and there were no specific instructions on tea workers associated with small project gardens"