Bengal tea workers pay in accordance with Minimum Wages Act

Kolkata, Feb 24 (IANS) The monthly pay of tea estate workers in West Bengal will be in accordance with the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and the state has formed a committee to oversee and implement the same, a tea workers' union leader said Tuesday.

"After holding a series of talks, it was decided by the tea estate stakeholders including workers and the state government that the monthly remuneration of workers will be based on the Minimum Wages Act," Ziaul Alam, a leader of the state's Joint Forum of Trade Unions of Tea Industry, told media persons here.

The joint forum is a conglomerate of 24 tea industry trade unions in the state.

The Minimum Wages Act lays down the bare monthly remuneration for skilled and unskilled workers which varies across states. However, adherence to the Act is not compulsory.

In West Bengal, the law is applicable to most of the industrial sectors excluding agriculture and agro industries.

Alam also said the trade union forum was demanding reopening of the seven closed tea gardens in Cooch Behar and Darjeeling in north Bengal, which traditionally has been the centre of tea cultivation.

"When the tea industry is booming and the government is earning huge revenue from it, seven tea gardens of the total 270 in the state are closed. This is affecting many workers. For the past three years, neither the state government nor the centre has made any stride to reopen them," he said.

Alam said at least Rs.5,000 crore goes to the state and central governments from tea export-related taxes.

The state provides a grant of Rs.1,500 each month to workers of closed tea gardens. The figure has remained stagnant since 2010-11.

During 2012-13, the financial aid -- christened Financial Assistance to the Workers in Locked Out Industrial Units -- was extended to 19,393 labourers across 208 shut units. The total sum paid was Rs.34.98 crore.

The trade union leader said it becomes impossible for workers to sustain their family and livelihood with just Rs.1,500 in hand and it needs to be increased.

"We have asked the (state) government to look into it during the upcoming budget", he said.