Kerala tea plantation stir ends

Management and workers finally agree on wage rise; govt panel to look into other issues raised after next month's local body polls

The stalemate over the wage dispute in Kerala's tea plantations ended on Wednesday, at a meeting of the Plantation Labour Committee (PLC), on which both sides were represented, with the government keeping a watch. The meet decided to raise the daily minimum wage to Rs 301 and the joint committee of various trade unions called off their 17-day strike. Pembilai Orumai (Women's Movement), an unofficial movement of female workers in the tea plantations of Munnar, also withdrew its strike, although saying it was not satisfied; they'd wanted a minimum daily wage of Rs 500.

For tea plantation workers, the daily wage rises by Rs 69. For cardamom workers, by Rs 63. And, for rubber workers by Rs 64. Tea and coffee workers will get Rs 436 daily (other benefits included). Cardamom workers will get Rs 478 and those on rubber plantations will get Rs 552.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said a commission would be appointed to study the various issues raised, such as the condition of workers' living quarters in the plantations. The government will call a meeting to discuss the other demands of the workers once  state local body elections, scheduled in the first week of November, are over.

As for the Pembilai Orumai, their leader, Lissy Sunny, said their strike had been withdrawn due to members' bad financial position. They'd restart the agitation, she said, after the local body elections.

  The past five PLC meetings were inconclusive, with both the management and workers adamant. The companies offered a maximum increase of Rs 23 a day, arguing tea plantations were  in crisis due to low prices for their produce. However, the CM insisted the daily wage be raised to at least Rs 300; the government had planned to issue a notification to so raise wages if Wednesday’s meeting had failed on a consensus.

Thousands of workers of Kanan Devan Tea, under the Tata Group, had blocked Munnar town for nine days, demanding a minimum wage of Rs 500 a day and 20 per cent bonus.

The agreement includes 8.33 per cent bonus and 11.67 per cent ex gratia allowance. The strike had hit tourism, with many cancellations of hotel bookings in Munnar.

Earlier, the United Planters Association of Southern India (Upasi) had said regional plantations paid one of the highest basic wages in the country. For tea plantations in the state, it said, the wages and other benefits amounted to Rs 410.72 a day. Also, that the basic wage of tea plantation workers in Kerala had gone up by 590 per cent since 1995, while the average South India tea price had risen by 195 per cent. The basic wage for a tea plantation worker in 1995 was Rs 44.71 a day, it said, and the average tea price was Rs 41.25 a kg; now, the wage per day was Rs 232 and the price of tea was Rs 80.42  a kg.

Vijayan Rajes, former president of Upasi, said the plantation sector in the south gave employment to 360,000 workers through the year. One of the main reasons for the sector's financial instability, he said, was the high cost of production on account of social welfare costs thrust upon it. Plantations are the only sector compelled to provide housing, medical services, education, sanitation and other welfare amenities, he complained.