Wage equal to the amount paid in the hills is unfair as the Dooars- Planters cite Rs 2 price hike to shun wage plea

Darjeeling/Jalpaiguri, Nov. 3: The Indian Tea Association has said the trade unions’ demand for a daily wage equal to the amount paid in the hills is unfair as the Dooars industry should not be linked to Darjeeling tea, whose auction price increased by Rs 60 this year.

In comparison, the auction price for tea produced in the gardens of the Dooars and the Terai has increased only by Rs 2. The observations of the ITA, which has the biggest stake in the plains gardens, comes on the eve of the tripartite wage negotiations to be held in Calcutta.

But the plains-based tea unions have threatened to call an indefinite strike in the industry if the talks at Writers’ Buildings fail tomorrow.

“Back in 2005, we had resorted to a 14 days’ strike in the tea industry for wage hike. We might take a similar decision this time too,” said Chitta Dey, convener of the Co-ordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers, an apex body of tea trade unions including Citu and Intuc.

Dey said the planters were rigid and not ready to increase the wages even by a “decent proportion”. “The industry has been in excellent condition for the past few years and there is no reason why the owners should not accept our demand,” he said.

State labour minister Purnendu Bose had said last month that if the November 4 meeting failed, the government might consider the option of announcing the minimum wage for the 2.5 lakh workers of the 228 gardens in the Dooars and the Terai.

Ever since the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha managed to clinch a daily wage of Rs 90 for hill garden workers in April, the trade unions in the plains have been demanding a similar deal. The workers in the plains are now paid Rs 67 a day.

M. Dasgupta, the secret-ary general of the ITA whose members own 80 gardens in the Dooars and 13 in the Terai, said: “We have been saying that it will be difficult for the plains garden to increase the wage to Rs 90. The increase has to be staggered over a period of three years.”

The tea unions in the plains are demanding that the minimum daily wage start with Rs 90 a day. The plains planters want to start with a wage lower than Rs 90 and then increase it over the next three years.

In the tea industry, wages are fixed for three years. The ITA official reeled off figures to suggest that comparison should not be drawn between the Darjeeling and the plains gardens.

“The average auction price for Darjeeling tea has increased by Rs 60 per kg this year while the increase in the average auction price for the plains gardens is only Rs 2,” said Dasgupta.

According to the ITA, Darjeeling tea had fetched an average auction price of Rs 310 per kg in 2010, while the corresponding average auction price for the hill tea between January and September this year was Rs 370. “For the Dooars gardens, the average auction price for 2010 was Rs 105.06 and if we take the figures between January and September, it is only Rs 107 this year,” said Dasgupta.

The ITA has also decided to participate in the 15-day Darjeeling Tea and Tourism Festival that will kick off on December 20. “We will set up a tea pavilion which will showcase rare footages of the industry. We will also hold a charity auction with tea donated from our member gardens. The proceedings of the auction will be given to a charitable organisation,” said Dasgupta.

A live tea tasting session and a tea seminar are also being planned for the festival.