Tripartite Wage Talks Of Tea Workers Fail To Take Off

A Correspondent

Agartala: Over fifty thousand tea workers in Tripura are facing serious problem as their wages have not increased due to the absence of a tripartite meeting for more than one year. The scheduled date for the tripartite meeting expired on April 25, 2018 and there has been no initiative from any sides to hold a meeting.

It is learnt that absence of any representative organization of the workers is the main reason behind the cancellation of the meeting. The State Labour Department and the owners are the other two other parties in the tripartite meeting.

The CITU-affiliated Tripura Tea Workers Union and the INTUC-affiliated Tripura Cha Mazdoor Union used to represent the workers in the tripartite meetings. The Cha Mazdoor Union virtually become defunct after the death of Nirod Baran Das who led it for the last many decades and the CITU affiliated union become moribund following the change of government in the State.

Wages of tea workers is finalized through such tripartite meetings held every three years. The last meeting was held on April 25, 2015. Apart from continuation of regular ration, the meeting had increased the daily wages of the labourers from Rs 71 to Rs 83 for 2015, Rs 93 for 2016 and Rs 105 for 2017.

Also read: Tripura news