The recent decision of the Kerala government to raise daily wages of plantation workers to Rs 546 from 1 April, has once again brought the issue of low wages in the tea gardens of north Bengal into sharp focus, with workers’ organisations demanding immediate enforcement of statutory minimum wages in the region.
Workmen across various sectors of the tea industry in North Bengal are set to stage an hour-long morning assembly and demonstration at every tea garden, estate, and factory on one of the following days—23, 24, or 25 June.
Hundreds of tea workers took to the streets, claiming that the state government's decision reflects collusion with plantation owners.
The Tea Workers’ Protection Committee (Chiya Shramik Suraksha Samiti) in Darjeeling has called for an indefinite bandh in the Hills starting Monday after the tripartite meeting convened by the Labour Department ended inconclusively today over the demand for a 20 per cent Puja bonus for workers in the 87 Hill tea gardens.
"When the Relief Fund was initiated, the GTA had taken a resolution to share its own matching grant against the donated amount as per an official statement, which would take the amount up to Rs 4 crore and 24 lakh,"
Leaders of the Joint Forum, a conglomeration of over 23 trade unions associated with the tea industry, will hold another meeting in Siliguri on 29 June to formulate a final strategy for carrying out a movement to demand that the government implement the Minimum Wages Act in the tea sector.
A political observer said that last year's Gorkhaland agitation and the ensuing developments in the Hills was one factor that turned the tides in favour of BJP in the tea belt in the Dooars.
The state labour department, managements and trade unions of 28 tea gardens on Friday brainstormed on a mechanism to pay…
Police on Thursday arrested four persons on the basis of complaints that they were trying to “misguide” tea workers associated…
Himalayan Plantation Workers’ Union (HPWU), the trade union of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) on Tuesday threatened to gherao…
