Darjeeling Terai-Dooars Plantation Labour Union (DTDPLU) refuse 30% hike in wages

DARJEELING, 30 NOV: The Darjeeling Terai-Dooars Plantation Labour Union (DTDPLU) has refused to accept the 30 per cent wage hike proposal put forward by the Darjeeling Tea Association. The body insisted that they would not accept any wage hike that is less than 33 per cent. It threatened a pen down strike in all the 87 tea plantations spread across the Hills if the wage hike demand regarding the clerical, technical and medical workers (super staff) is not met within five days from now. The meeting involving the DTA and DTDPLU slated on 28 November has been postponed to 5 December.  And as the situation stands now there is little likelihood of an agreement at the next round of wage-talks.
Making it clear that they would not yield ground regarding their wage-hike demand, the DTDPLU president, Mr PT Sherpa, said that they were preparing for a non-cooperation movement involving all the tea plantations spread across the region. “There is no other option but to launch movement as the wage we are now receiving and the proposed hike are woefully inadequate to meet the expenses of life with the essential commodities becoming costlier day by day,” he said. 
It was learnt that there are around 1,500 super staff category workers in the tea plantations spread across the region. The salary of the technical grade workers ranges between Rs 3,500 and Rs 4,000 whereas the figure stands at Rs 5,000-10,000 in case of the medical and clerical category workers.
-statesman news service