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Siliguri, July 28: All 208 tea gardens in the Terai and the Dooars today put up notices, saying it would be difficult for them to disburse wages and rations in the coming weeks if the embargo on the despatch of tea continued.
The Progressive Tea Workers’ Union, the labour wing of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad, has been stalling the despatch of tea from gardens since Tuesday to demand a hike in the workers’ daily wage from Rs 67 to Rs 250.
The decision to warn the labourers about a halt in the disbursal of the wages and rations was taken at a meeting convened by the Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations — the apex body of garden owners’ forums — in Calcutta today.
“The blockade on tea despatches during the pendency of conciliation proceedings is highly irregular and not in conformity with industrial relations practices. The alarming situation has forced constituent tea gardens of the CCPA to issue notices at the garden level, clearly communicating that unless there is immediate resumption of despatches, the gardens will not be in a position to meet the wages and rations obligations when they are next due,” reads a press release issued by the CCPA in Calcutta today.
Monojit Dasgupta, the secretary general of the association, said the garden owners had sought the intervention of the state government to end the impasse. “The association wrote to the labour commissioner, saying the embargo on the despatch of tea is an infringement on the right of the gardens to function. If the agitation continues, there would be accumulation of processed tea in the gardens and ultimately, the working capital flow to the estates will be choked,” he said over the phone.
Observers say it is yet to see how the warning will influence the course of the agitation. “The workers can well understand that they will not receive wages and rations if the agitation continues. So, the notice might prompt them to mount pressure on the union to lift the embargo. On the contrary, there can be an intensive agitation and law and order problems if the union succeeds in convincing the workers that the agitation is needed to clinch a hike in the wages,” said an observer.
The Parishad union was adamant. “We will not withdraw the agitation unless a decision is reached on the wage demand. If the government wants, it can advance the date of meeting scheduled for August 4 for an early settlement,” said PTWU chairperson Shukra Munda. “The planters’ claim that there will be no money to pay workers does not stand as the wages are given even during the lean season.”
Assault spurs garden closure:
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| The closed factory of Debpara Tea Estate on Thursday. Picture by Biplab Basak |
July 28: The Debpara Tea Estate in the Dooars has been closed following a chain of incidents in which managers were allegedly assaulted and paraded with slippers around neck by women workers on Monday.
A notice announcing the suspension of work in the garden from today was issued after some managerial staff members quit their posts yesterday for want of security. The estate has 1,176 permanent labourers
According to estate sources, a group of women workers assaulted the chief manager and assistant manager on July 25 when they asked a homeless woman to vacate the garden crèche.
“Patengi Nayak, a worker, had been staying in the crèche with her children for the past one year after her hut withered away because of lack of maintenance by the management. On Monday, assistant manager Piyush Jha asked Patengi to vacate the crèche immediately,” said a garden official.
Jha told Patengi that she was occupying the crèche illegally and it was meant to keep the babies of women who were engaged in work in the garden. The woman refused to vacate the crèche and told the assistant manger that she had no other place to go. Patengi went to other women workers in the garden and told them about Jha’s instruction.
“The women workers were furious and went to Jha’s office. They assaulted Jha and chief manager Subrata Saha who tried to interfere. Saha told the workers that it was at his insistence that Jha had asked Patengi to vacate the crèche. Later, they put a chain of shoes around Saha’s neck and made him walk till Binnaguri market, located a few kilometres away,” said the official.
After the incident, a section of workers locked two main gates of the garden and confined the management staff to the estate throughout the day.
Yesterday, some managerial staff members tendered their resignations and vacated their houses, saying they were not feeling safe in the garden. This prompted the management to suspend work from today.
Debpara, 50km from Jalpaiguri, is the second garden to be closed in the Dooars. The Dheklapara tea estate has been shut for a few years.
Representatives of the Indian Tea Planters’ Association, of which Debpara is a member, said the management could not resume normal operations after the incident. “After the assault on the two officials and confinement of others, the employees felt insecure and they had no other option but to leave the estate,” said Amitangshu Chakroborty, the secretary of the Dooars branch of the ITPA.
Trade unions, however, blamed the management for the entire episode.
“The management did not arrange any alternative shelter for the worker, whose hut was damaged last year. So, she was forced to stay in the crèche,” said Kanchan Chettri, the garden unit secretary of the Dooars Cha Bagan Workers Union affiliated to the UTUC. “A number of huts in the labour lines are in pitiable condition. There are also pending dues of provident fund and rations.”
The Progressive Tea Workers’ Union, the labour wing of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad, spoke on similar lines.
“The management has overlooked several problems faced by labourers. The closure of the estate cannot solve any problem,” said Shukra Munda, the chairperson of the Progressive Union.
“We have written to the district labour department, seeking their intervention to see that the garden is reopened immediately and the problems are taken care of on an emergency basis.”
~TT
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