People's Democracy

Wage Increase For Chia Kamans

CHIA kamans, that is the mazdoors working in tea gardens, succeeded in wresting an increase in their daily wage from Rs 34.80 to Rs 45.90 (or by 32 per cent) following a tripartite meeting held at the Rotunda of the Writers' Buildings in Kolkata on February 3 evening.

The revision will benefit no less than three lakh permanent and over two lakh temporary workers in the tea gardens of the Dooars and the Terai. The labour minister of the West Bengal Left Front government was present during the negotiations that proved long and tortuous.

The last wage agreement had taken place as far back as 1997. The placement of a demands charter by the Coordination Committee of Plantation Workers saw the beginning of a long series of talks with plantation owners. No less than eight bipartite meetings were then organised in succession, followed by two tripartite meetings with the state’s labour department too participating in the talks. The wage agreement was finally clinched at the third tripartite meeting.

The agreement would be made effective from April 1, 2000. This means that the chia kamans will get wage arrears for 11 months at the revised rates. The agreement will hold good for three years, following which a fresh agreement will have to be arrived at.

The plantation owners have consented to pay up the arrears in two instalments. The first instalment will be paid by May this year and the rest in July. The plantation owners will have to part with Rs 140 crore over three years to pay the revised wages and wage arrears.

The chia kamans and the planters have agreed to donate one per cent of the wage arrears to the Bengal chief minister's Gujarat relief Fund. (INN)