Trinamul tea union on anti-bandh drive - NREGS shows way to Rs 130 daily wage cry

The Trinamul Congress has started an anti-bandh campaign in the tea gardens in the foothills through its trade union, asking workers to refrain from strikes and embargoes and instead fight for their rights through talks.

The Trinamul Tea Plantation Workers’ Union also said it would ask the government to help negotiate with planters so that garden labourers in the Dooars and Terai got a revised daily wage of Rs 130, the same amount paid under the 100-day central job scheme (see chart).

The Trinamul trade union’s anti-bandh drive kicks off a day after party chief and chief minister Mamata Banerjee requested all political outfits to refrain from bandhs and blockades as they affected livelihood.

“We are not in favour of calling strikes or stopping despatch of tea. So, we have started campaigns against such activities. Our chief minister has time and again insisted that strikes, bandhs and blockades should be discouraged. On our part, we are trying to take more and more people into our confidence. They should surely fight for their rights but not resort to any action that might affect the tea industry,” said Trinamul trade union leader Joachim Buxla.

The Trinamul trade wing is a constituent of the Defence Committee for Plantation Workers’ Rights that had called a three-day strike in the industry earlier this month. Today, however, Trinamul claimed that it had opposed the bandh then.

“We had instructed our supporters to report for duty,” said Buxla, who switched over to Trinamul from the RSP in 2009.

Trinamul admitted that as far as trade unionism was concerned it had far to go and had managed to form units in only 30 or so gardens. Citu and Intuc are dominant in most gardens, followed by the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad-backed labour union.

“We had started from scratch and right now, we have units in more than 30 gardens in the Dooars. Every week, we are opening new units,” said Buxla. “In terms of forming a trade union base, we have a long way to go but nonetheless, we have started working on our agendas to ensure that tea workers are not deprived of their rights.”

Last week, the trade unions scaled down their demand for revised wage to at least Rs 91. The root of the stand-off in the plains is a deal of Rs 90 a day that the Gorkha Janmuki Morcha managed to clinch for workers of the Darjeeling tea industry. The plains workers now get Rs 67.

“As there is no fixed minimum wage in the state, we consider the NREGS rate as the base for calculation of other daily wages. We have told the labour minister that workers would feel deprived if they are paid less than Rs 90. The revised wage should be Rs 130 or above,” Buxla, today, said.

A deal less than Rs 90, many trade union leaders believe, would upset the 2 lakh or so casual workers more than the permanent labourers. “The 2.5 lakh permanent workers, who get additional benefits like bonus, PF, gratuity, housing, ration and free medical aid, is not much attracted to the national job scheme. But for casual workers, who don’t get these benefits, the Rs 130 a day for at least 100 days is surely more attractive,” said Chitta Dey, a trade union leader.

Union leaders said the low wages in the tea industry had forced many youths to migrate to the north and south Indian states where they earn even up to Rs 250 per day.

Absenteeism is a problem in most gardens in the hills and plains. Hill planters blame the higher wage of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for irregular attendance — one of the reasons why operations in the Darjeeling gardens are frequently hit, they say. The job scheme is open to all, including permanent workers.

Hill planters said the fringe benefits given to the permanent workers in the industry and daily wage together makes it Rs 130. Plains garden owners put the figure at Rs 120 or so but refused to blame the national rural job scheme for the truancy trend.

“There is a trend mostly among male workers to stay away from gardens. This is because of a number of reasons but it would be wrong to attribute it to NREGS,” said Sanjay Bagchi, the assistant secretary of the Dooars Branch of the India Tea Association, a body of planters.

The garden owners, however, could not provide a break-up of the fringe benefits in monetary units. “We cannot translate for example a housing benefit or a hospital benefit or firewood given for each worker. But when calculated on a larger scale, it comes to around Rs 120 a day if we add the daily wage of Rs 67 to it,” Monojit Dasgupta, secretary general of the Indian Tea Association.

Source: The Telegraph

Shut down tea garden workers promised 50% increase in monthly revenue

Workers of shut tea gardens in the Dooars have been promised 50 per cent increase in the monthly financial assistance in this year’s budget.

Finance minister Asim Dasgupta, in his budget speech, said money given to the workers of the closed estates under the Financial Assistance to Workers of Locked Out Industries scheme would be increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500. The move would benefit 34,527 workers of the industry. He said of the 16 closed gardens in the region, eight were opened through joint initiatives by the state and the Centre. To expedite the reopening of the remaining ones, the state has granted tax and duty relief to both new and existing buyers.

The minister has also announced waiver for education and rural employment cess — charged seven paisa and five paisa respectively on every kilo of tealeaves — in the next financial year (see chart) in the tea estates of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and North Dinajpur districts.

Prabhat Mukherjee, the general secretary of the Intuc-affiliated National Union of Plantation Workers, while appreciating the decision to increase the monthly assistance, said it was unfortunate that the finance minister evaded two primary issues. “We had asked for continuation of payment of financial assistance to those who have crossed 58 years during the period of closure as the assistance is not paid when they retire. Secondly, he hardly touched on the proposal to provide land rights to the the tea workers,” he said.

The general secretary of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha-run West Bengal Cha Mazdoor Sabha, Samir Roy, however, apprehended that the waiver and relief might encourage closure of more estates. “A section of unscrupulous tea planters may take the opportunity and close down estates only to get the benefits of reopening,” he said.

Planters have hailed Dasgupta’s announcement. “It is good to hear that the cess has been waived for another year. This will surely help the tea industry to grow,” said Mohini Das, secretary, Terai Indian Planters’ Association.

But small growers, who account for about 30 per cent of north Bengal’s tea production, were not happy. “We had asked for abolition of the cess in our sector and waited to hear from the government,” said Bijoygopal Chakraborty, the chairman of the United Forum of Small Tea Growers’ Associations. “It is disappointing that nothing as such has been spelt out by the minister today.”

From The Telegraph

Intuc rally on hill awareness

Siliguri, Nov.3: The Intuc will organise a rally on Friday to create an awareness among tea garden workers on the prevailing situation in the hills and the plains keeping in mind the Gorkhaland agitation.

The rally by the labour wing of the Congress will begin at the Sukna station and culminate at Court More here after travelling 7km.

Aloke Chakraborty, the Darjeeling district president of the Intuc, said: “I don’t want to comment on the movement demanding separate statehood because the dialogues are going on between the central and state government. But the movement and counter movements will not only hamper the peace and amity between the people of hills and plains, but will also affect tea garden workers of the Terai and the Dooars where the employees of different communities are working together,” he said

Thousands of tea workers from Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong subdivisions and those from the plains will participate in the rally. “We will also welcome members from other trade unions,” Chakraborty said.

At the Sukna station, a short cultural programme of the Adivasis, Nepali and Bengali folk dances will be performed before the rally begins.

The participants in the rally will carry a white flag symbolising peace. “The flag will be handed over to members of the Congress Sevadal and the Chhatra Parishad at Pintail Village who will carry it till Darjeeling More. There, the district Youth Congress members will receive the flag and will take it to Court More,” Chakraborty said.

After the rally, the Intuc members will submit a memorandum addressed to the governor through the additional district magistrate in Siliguri.

“During the agitation by the GNLF in late eighties, we had organised a similar rally titled Pahar theke Sagor which was successful. We hope that the Friday’s rally will also be fruitful,” the Intuc leader said. “Similar programmes will also be organised across the region to bring peace and harmony,” he added.