| According to Unions, the newly appointed estate manager had locked out the garden this morning following demonstration by workers. |
| Chanu Dey, executive member of the central committee of Cha Bagan Mazdoor Union, affiliated to Citu, said workers were made to work seven days a week, including Sunday, the weekly off. |
| "If they did not work on Sunday then they would not be given work for the next 8-10 days and these new rules were implemented without any consultation with the unions," said Dey. |
| The Union has now demanded to the plantation owners' association that the estate be re-opened immediately. |
| Cha Bagan Mazdoor Union represents around 80 per cent of the workers in the four West Bengal estates of Tata Tea. Tata Tea officials were not available for comment. |
| With the lock-out at Dam Dim, there are now 14 closed tea gardens in North Bengal. |
| Initially before the Centre stepped up its efforts to re-open closed gardens, there were 14 closed gardens. |
| Later, Surendranagar estate reopened a a few months back. |
| Dey also said that the Dam Dim manager was repeatedly requested to repair the homes of workers but he did not pay any heed. |
| Dam Dim employs around 1,400 permanent workers. |
| Social cost has been a bone of contention between the workers and the producers. |
| The producers claim that the social cost had rendered the gardens unviable. Industry sources pointed out that labour accounted for more than 55 per cent of the total cost of production. |
| The tripartite agreement of 1969 and subsequent similar agreements compelled the industry to maintain the total employment in the tea gardens prevailing at the time of the agreement. |
| "Therefore, the gardens are forced to carry a fixed number of workers not linked to the total productive area of the garden," they said. |
| Dey said, some of casual workers at Dam Dim were also retrenched without discussing with the Unions. |
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