Tea wages: BCMS stages road blockade at Tinsukia

FROM A CORRESPONDENT

TINSUKIA, April 10: The Tinsukia unit of the Bharatiya Chah Mazdur Sangha (BCMS) today staged a blockade on Tinsukia-Duliajan road at Bahadur Chariali here, demanding an increase in the daily wages of tea workers. Bishal Gowala, president and Robin Kurmi, general secretary of BCMS's Tinsukia district unit alleged that though the minimum wages of tea garden workers should be Rs 169, tea workers were being paid Rs 94 only.

The BCMS activists also shouted slogans against Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) and the State Government. They also demanded scrapping of the agreement signed between ACMS and Consultative Committee of Plantations Associations (CCPA).  

It may be mentioned that the wage agreement between Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha and the CCPA , Assam Valley Branch, for daily wage labourers of the tea industry dated March 1, 2012 expired on December 31 last year. The ACMS had placed its demand for revision of wages and after discussions the new wage structure for 2015 was fixed at Rs 115, to be increased to Rs 126 next year and Rs 137 in 2017.  

The minimum wages of tea garden labourers varies in the tea-growing states. Even within Assam, a major producer of tea, wages are different in the gardens of Brahmaputra and Barak valleys.