‘Tea workers to be weaned away from divisive politics’

The convener of the Coordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers, West Bengal, Mr Chitta Dey today said that the platform would organise a convention of the tea workers of the Dooars, Terai and the Darjeeling Hills to ward them against any divisive movement.

According to Mr Dey, the ongoing political turmoil in the Dooars, Terai and the Darjeeling Hills has hampered the tea plantation workers most. “Many of the tea plantation workers have been victimised as they participated in the movement. Houses of many trade union leaders have been torched during the movement. The workers have been exploited by some divisive power and by the demand of a separate state, disrupting peace and harmony in the region,” he said.

The leader also said that the workers’ unions have failed to generate awareness among the tea workers against such divisive powers. “The unions needed to organise small group meetings to aware the workers of the problem. They failed to perform their role. Under the circumstances, the Coordination Committee, which is a platform of 17 workers’ unions, met in Jalpaiguri today and resolved to organise the convention,” he added.

Peace on tea union lips

A conglomerate of garden workers’ unions has decided to launch a campaign against violence and spread the message of peace, keeping in mind the fact that most of the people involved in the recent clashes are estate labourers.

The Co-ordination Committee of the Tea Plantation Workers, an apex body of 18 garden unions, including the Citu and Intuc, convened a meeting in Jalpaiguri this afternoon to stem the rift among different communities.

The leaders of all constituents of the committee have unanimously decided to launch the campaign, disseminating the message of peace among tea workers of different communities, and to discourage them from extending support to any organisation indulging in violence in the name of supporting and opposing the Gorkhaland demand.

The unions will rather ask the labourers to concentrate on the political struggle to improve their socio-economic condition.

“I had not ever witnessed such rift and tension among the working class before in my 52-year-old trade union life. Instead of fighting together for economic and social development, they are against each other now, indulging in attacks and arson. They should be stopped immediately,” said Chitta Dey, the convener of the committee.

“Considering that the discord among the workers can have disastrous ramifications, we have decided to start the campaign from tomorrow, countering the issues raised by the divisive forces,” he said.

At the meeting, the leaders expressed concern over the incidents of violence being reported from different tea estates in the Dooars.

“Violence and creation of rift among the workforce will have a negative impact on the tea industry as a whole,” said Dey. “After years of recession, the industry has shown signs of improvement in the last season. We expect things to improve further in the season that will commence from the first week of March. But if the situation continues to be volatile and normal activities in the estates are affected, the sector will stagger again, and it will be workers who will suffer ultimately,” he added.

“It is thus important that peace is maintained and the labourers give attention to their work instead of getting swayed away by the divisive forces which are hardly concerned about poor people,” said a leader.

Asked about the role of the trade union floated by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in the gardens, Dey said it did not have any presence in the Terai and the Dooars and was not a constituent of the committee.

Apart from the micro-level campaign to be carried out by the trade union leaders in tea estates, a workers’ convention will also be organised by the committee at Birpara on February 23.

Stir over workers’ suspension

JALPAIGURI, Jan. 27: A section of the Dangapara Division of Madarihat Land Project of Duncans Tea Company workers today confined the assistant manager of the tea plantation, Mr Manprit Singh, after he suspended four workers today.

According to the West Bengal State Chaa Majdur Sangha (affiliated to Hind Majdur Sabha) secretary, Mr Anjan Chakraborty, an allegation of misappropriation of funds by manipulating the paybook of workers' payment was leveled against the plantation official.

He also said that the official had instructed the labourers to pluck at least 30 kg tea leaves per day despite knowing that they normally pluck 24 kg of leaves on an average.

The district PDS secretary, Mr Jainal Pramanik, said that the assistant manager today suspended four workers of the plantation following which, the workers gheraoed him for almost six hours.

The SDO Falakata, Mr Alias Vez, said that he sent police to the plantation after the trade Union leaders informed him of the matter.

The assistant manager Mr Manprit Singh, however, denied all the allegations. “We have not manipulated the paybook and the four were suspended since they had misinformed the media about the management of the plantation,” Mr Singh said. The agitators withdrew after the plantation manager, Mr Sanjay Gurtu, assured them that their grievances would be heard at a meeting with the authorities tonight.

Tea trade unions to launch movement

Siliguri: Trade union leaders under the banner of Coordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers today said they would soon launch a movement to demand an immediate solution to a host of problems faced by workers in the industry.

The committee, which is an umbrella organisation of 17 trade union bodies including those backed by the Intuc and Citu, called a news conference here today and provided reporters with a blue-print of their agitation programme.

“We will begin by holding two simultaneous conventions at Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar on May 24. These will be followed by conventions at different locations of the Terai, the Dooars and the Darjeeling hills including Naxalbari, Matigara, Chulsa, Birpara and Kurseong in the next two months,” said Chitta Dey, the convener of the committee. “A central convention will be held at Baghajatin Park here on June 28.”

The leaders also reiterated that if nothing comes of these programmes, they would consider calling a strike throughout the industry.

“The lackadaisical attitude of the state, Centre and the planters in addressing several key issues has worsened the plight of the three lakh workers and their dependants. This has left us with no alternative but to launch a movement across the industry again,” one of the committee members said.

They also referred to the 16-day strike that had shut down gardens across the Dooars in 2005 and forced planters to sign a revised wage agreement for garden labourers.

“We are not banking on conventions alone. Instead, we are considering these as the first phase of the movement,” said Kalyan Roy, general secretary of West Bengal Cha Sramik Union. “We are very clear about our objectives and if there is no positive outcome by June-end, we may go in for an indefinite strike in July.”

Aloke Chakravorty, the joint general secretary of the Intuc-affiliated National Union of Plantation Workers, and Murari Mitra, a member of the Citu’s state committee, both confirmed the participation of their supporters in the programme.

Source: The Telegraph