Joint panel proposed to thrash out local tea storms - Morcha workers’ union appreciates first-of-its-kind move by Darjeeling planters

A tea garden in Darjeeling

Darjeeling, June 12: The Darjeeling Tea Association is planningto form a joint committee consisting of representatives of garden managements and trade unions to ensure that problems related to the industry are constantly addressed instead of allowing them to aggravate.

If the committee is formed, it will be the first of its kind in the industry in north Bengal. Of the nearly 80 gardens that produce the premier Darjeeling tea, 60 are affiliated to the DTA. The trade union of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which has agreed in principle to the DTA suggestion, is dominant in all the gardens.

DTA officials said the committee would help address the concerns of both the managements and the unions on a regular basis. “Instead of waiting for the unions to resort to dharnas and deputations, which disrupt the normal functioning of the garden, the committee could sit for dialogues on a regular basis to understand the members’ concern. If the committee is formed, it will be the first of its kind in the region,” said Sandeep Mukherjee, the secretary of the DTA, a planters’ body.

The committee would also be in a position to settle many issues locally instead of waiting for the management, almost all of whom are based in Calcutta, to constantly come up (to the hills) for the negotiations.

“If the unions have issues like drinking water and sanitation, we also have issues like constant encroachment on plantation area. Such issues can be solved through regular discussion.

“We would ideally want representatives from all operating unions in the Darjeeling hills to be on the panel so that there can be a consensus on decisions taken by the panel. The committee could invite members of the Tea Board and other government departments as and when needed,” said Mukherjee.

In fact, the DTA did invite all political parties for a preliminary meeting in Darjeeling yesterday. While the Morcha and the Congress-affiliated unions attended the discussion, the other three hill parties — the CPRM, the GNLF and the ABGL — stayed away. Industry observers said given the results of the just concluded Assembly election in which the Morcha has won all three hill seats, a nod from the party would suffice for such a committee to be made functional.

“While the GNLF had started forming some unions in the tea gardens before the elections, most had become dysfunctional in recent times with the union leaders resigning from the party. The ABGL and the Congress are yet to consolidate their bases in the gardens while the CPRM has some supporters on a few estates. A nod from the Morcha affiliated union would actually make the committee functional,” said an observer.

In fact, the Morcha union has welcomed the formation of such a committee. P.T. Sherpa, the president of the Morcha’s Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union, said: “It is a very good suggestion and we have agreed in principle. However, the union alone cannot take a final call on the issue and we will place the proposal before the party for the final decision. On a personal note I would want the members of the Tea Board and other government departments which are involved with the tea industry to have representatives in the committee.”

The CPRM said unless its 11-point charter of demands that it had placed before the DTA was fulfilled, it saw little reason in attending meetings with the planters’ association. The demands include fringe benefits for plantation workers like increase in firewood and tea quotas, disbursement of quality umbrellas and footwears, construction of pucca labour houses and their repairs and regularisation of temporary workers who have worked for more than five years.

The DTA has decided to hold the next round of talks on June 26. “On that day the issue of wage negotiation for the sub-staff of the tea garden would also be discussed,” said Mukherjee.

-TT