Tea workers threaten strike

Tea workers threaten strike

2 April 2012
DARJEELING, 2 APRIL: Tea garden workers pressing for the cancellation of Mr Sushil Chowdhury's lease for the Ring Tong tea garden have threatened to start shutting down tea plantations in the Hills.
The 87 tea garden sub-units of Darjeeling Terai-Dooars Plantation Labourers Union calling for the cancelation of the lease say they will start an indefinite relay-shut-down all the tea plantation in the Hills, said union general secretary Suraj Subba. Today, the union sent a deputation to the additional district magistrate to make this clear. The union has not set a deadline for the lease cancellation, though ~ that will come later, Mr Subba said. Meanwhile, workers from the Ring Tong tea garden have been on an indefinite relay-hunger-strike for seven days, calling for the cancellation of the lease. Mr Subba said the High Court has scheduled a hearing on 4 April regarding the lease of the Ring Tong tea garden. Also, state commerce and industry minister Partha Chatterjee is expected to visit Darjeeling on 3 or 4 April, to look into the issue. The tea garden was officially closed in 1996 after a fire in the factory. An agreement was reached in 1997 to keep the tea-picking work going until 2002. "In the previous agreement, it was mentioned that the workers would only get salaries but not fringe and other benefits. Compared to the workers of other tea gardens, the agreement was not fair," said Mr Subba. The tea garden was completely shut down after 2006, when the union found the owner had been running the garden and "exploiting the rights of the workers and had illegally extended the lease up to 2032," said Mr Subba.
Mr Mohammed Rizwan, the joint labour commissioner for the north Bengal zone, summoned Mr Chowdhury on 27 March to Siliguri to resolve the situation, but Mr Chowdhury did not appear. Mr Rizwan said Ring Tong has 312 labourers, but the union has documentation showing the employees strength at the tea garden is 933, said union leader Milan Pradhan. “However, only 333 have been getting a grant of Rs 1,500 per month by the government,” he said. sns