Tea Workers' Wage Hike Again Takes Centre Stage

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Jan 18: With the Assam Assembly elections fast approaching, the issue of daily-wage hike of tea workers has once again taken the centre stage.

Various organizations associated with the tea workers' rights have already decided to raise the issue in various ways. A protest rally was carried out in Dibrugarh district on Monday. The tea unions including Assam ChahMazdoorSangha (ACMS) will stage demonstration and also carry out other protest programmes at BiswanathChariali and Golaghat on January 21 and 28. The tea workers' unions will carry out their 'DispurChalo' programme on February 8 to put pressure on the State government to compel the tea garden managements to increase the rates of daily wage.

An office bearer of ACMS told this reporter that his organization has been demanding a raise in the daily wages of tea workers to Rs 351. He said, "In 2016, the BJP had promised them that steps would be taken to increase the daily wages if they came to power.

"The BJP came to power but nothing has happened. The party is on the verge of the completing its term."

It may be mentioned here that the BJP led government in Dispur had initiated an interim hike of Rs 30 in tea workers' daily wage in 2018. In the same year, the government had constituted a high-level committee to study the issue and give its recommendations. The committee headed by the then Additional Chief Secretary, Kumar Sanjay Krishna submitted its report and recommendations about two years back. However, the State Government is yet to take any action on the report.

An office bearer of the 'Assam Tea Tribe Students Association' said that despite being the highest producer of tea in the country, the daily wage rate for tea workers in Assam is very low. The present rate is Rs 167 for workers in the Brahmaputra Valley and Rs 145 for those working in the Barak Valley. He added that the tea workers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are receiving Rs 263 and Rs 241 per day respectively. "None of the political parties are serious about this important issue. They are only using the tea workers as their vote bank," said the office bearer.

On the other hand, the managements of various tea gardens are in no mood to increase the daily wages of workers. "The interim hike Rs 30 in 2018 had resulted in 16% increase in the cost of production. The tea industry in Assam is passing through a very bad phase and the pandemic has broken the industry's backbone.

"We will be forced to close down many gardens if the government forces us to increase the daily wage of workers," said a source in the industry.

With the tea workers playing a decisive role in elections across 28 Assembly constituencies, the ruling BJP is now in tricky situation. "If the issue is not resolved before the elections in April there might be erosion of votes for the ruling party," pointed out a source.

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