Tripartite meeting on 20%bonus for hill tea workers fails

EOI, Darjeeling, November 6, 2024: The tripartite meeting called by the West Bengal government on Wednesday to discuss the demand for a 20 percent bonus ended in failure, as both tea garden owners and management failed to attend. The meeting was convened in Kolkata after trade unions wrote to State Labour Minister Moloy Ghatak, urging him to address their demand for a 20 percent Puja bonus.

Prior to the Puja, the Labour Department had issued an advisory suggesting a 16 percent bonus, which was rejected by various trade unions operating in the tea gardens of the Darjeeling hills. In a press release, Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists trade union leader Sunil Rai stated, "We raised the demand for a 20 percent Puja bonus with the Labour Minister today in Kolkata. We presented a mass petition in support of the workers’ demand. However, the tea garden owners were absent today, which we condemn. If they do not agree to a 20 percent bonus, we will launch a movement again."

Rai also mentioned that the unions have requested the next bonus meeting to be held in Darjeeling. "The minister has assured us that the next meeting will take place in Siliguri on November 16," he added.

Other key issues concerning the tea gardens were also discussed, including the reopening of closed tea gardens, provident fund and gratuity payments, and minimum wages.

The Hamro Hill Terai Dooars Chia Shramik Sangh, affiliated with the Hamro Party, alleged foul play and a conspiracy between the garden management and the state government. "We were informed about the absence of the management just ahead of the meeting. Is the management bigger than the government? We smell something fishy, and we believe the state government is also involved," said HHTDCSS president D.K. Gurung from Kolkata.

Following the failed talks, HP activists launched a poster campaign in Darjeeling town, blaming the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM)-led Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) for failing to secure an agreement on the bonus issue. "The GTA is incompetent. The ruling dispensation in the hills has failed the people and the tea garden workers. We no longer have any hope for the next meeting in Siliguri. From now on, we will demand the implementation of the minimum wage, and the release of the workers’ provident funds and gratuity, which the owners have withheld for years," said Gurung.

Over 55,000 workers are directly employed across the 87 tea gardens in the Darjeeling hills. On Wednesday, representatives from eight trade unions, affiliated with various political parties, attended the meeting.