Joint Forum of Trade Unions of Tea Industry of Bengal (a conglomeration of 24 tea trade unions) has called for a bandh in seven districts of North Bengal on June 13 protesting against the non-implementation of minimum wages in the tea gardens. The bandh will have a major impact on the travel and tour trade with the ongoing tourist onrush to these parts.
Incidentally, every three years, wage negotiation meetings are held for tea garden workers. The last meeting was held in 2014 when daily wages were hiked from Rs 90 to Rs 132.50p. The tea garden unions at that time had demanded the implementation of Minimum Wages Act for the tea garden workers. A prolonged agitation was launched by different tea trade unions. Finally, the state government set up a committee on February 20, 2015 to look into this issue. The committee with representatives from the state government, tea garden management and the trade unions is headed by the principal secretary of the Labour department. The committee was scheduled to submit its report within February 2017. However, the report is still pending.
Multiple meetings of the committee have remained inconclusive. Meetings between the trade unions, government representatives and management have not yielded any results. "Despite the last wage agreement having expired on March 31, 2017, the government and management have not initiated any steps to implement the minimum wages. We will not settle for any interim arrangement and thus we have decided to walk on the path of agitation. We demand the immediate implementation of minimum wages in the tea industry," declared Saman Pathak, a trade union leader representing the Joint Forum.
The Joint Forum has announced a series of agitations including gate meetings in all tea gardens on May 29 and 30. A tea industry bandh on June 12 and a general strike in seven districts of North Bengal including Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Cooch Behar will be held also. "As it is a very important issue and concerns the tea gardens, which is the economic backbone of this region, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supports the agitation programme of the Joint Forum. The Hills will remain closed on June 13," stated Bimal Gurung, president, GJM, the party in power in the Hills.