Plantation workers interests sacrificed to keep owners happy

Sushovan Dhar
The eastern states of India, Assam and West Bengal, together contribute around 70% of the tea
produced in India. Employing 1.2 million workers in around 1,500 tea gardens, this 150 year old
industry is also one of the economic pillars of the region. It is estimated that between 6-7 million
people depend on the tea industry in the region for their livelihood. The industry is a major foreign
exchange earner with volumes of export and the prices rising every year. The domestic market is
also expanding fast prompting the Tea Board to forecast that by 2020 India's tea production would
fall short of estimated demands. Though this trend may be good for our current-account deficit
economy and for the companies owning plantations, it has hardly any positive impact on the lives of
the workers. They still remain as the most poorly paid workers in the organized sector. The total
wage of a tea plantation worker in the states of Assam and West Bengal is less than any other
organized sector workers and in West Bengal this also falls much short of the unorganized sector
workers covered by Minimum Wages. For instance, the agricultural workers receive Rupees (Rs)
206 as minimum daily wage while the tea garden workers even after the recent hike are subjected to
work at Rs 112.50 per day. Furthermore, the vast majority is engaged as daily rated workers and
work on a 'no work no pay basis'.
West Bengal is the second largest tea growing state in India after Assam and home to the world
renowned Darjeeling tea. The state contributes more than 21 per cent to India's total tea production.
North Bengal (the region of the province of West Bengal where there are tea gardens) has about 276
gardens spread out in the Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars region with around 4,50,000 workers.
Table 1: PRODUCTION: (Quantity in Million Kgs, Source:Indian Tea Association ITA)

Production
Imports
Exports
Consumption

1998
874
9
210
650

2005
946
17
199
760

2007
986
16
179
798

2009
979
25
198
839

2010
966
20
222
860

2011
1116
21
215
881

2012
1126
21
208
903

2013
1200
20
212
926

Table 2: Tea Growing Regions

Acreage
32214 ha

ASSAM
Assam Valley, Cachar
WEST BENGAL
115095 ha
Darjeeling Dooars, Terai
SOUTH INDIA
119740 ha
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka
OTHERS
713769 ha
Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh, Uttar
Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur,

Production (Million Kgs)

588
276
232
16

Nagaland

Prominent players in the tea industry in West Bengal are Tata Tea, Williamson Magor Group,
Goodricke Group and Duncans Group. The Williamson Magor Group has recently invested US$ 20
million on its facilities to increase its packaged tea business.
The lush green and charming view of the tea estates of North Bengal hide a bleak reality malnutrition and starvation deaths. More than 100 people have reportedly died in five closed tea
gardens since January 2014. However, the current Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in the
state, like its predecessor, the Left Front government, refuses to acknowledge any such death.
Unofficial estimates say that the death toll for the past one and a half decade, of workers and their
families, in the closed gardens of Dooars and Terai, may well cross 1,000.
New Wage Agreement
A tripartite agreement with every union (i.e. of CPIM, RSP, Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC)
etc.) except Progressive Plantation Workers Union (PPWU), as signatories was signed on 20th
February 2015. The agreement provides for an increase of Rs. 17.50 and Rs. 22.50 for the first year
in Dooars/Terai region and Hill region respectively, followed by Rs 10.00 each in next two years
consecutively, thereby raising the daily wages of daily rated workers to Rs. 112.50, Rs. 122.50 &
Rs. 132.50 from April 2014 to March 2017. Though the tea industry is in the Schedule of Minimum
Wages in West Bengal, about 4 decades ago, the unions decided that it was more advantageous to
go for an industry level tripartite agreement, as minimum wages were increasing very slowly. For
some years, this was advantageous for the workers , but later with higher rates of inflation, and
weakened bargaining power of the unions, wage increases became marginal and tea plantation
workers found they were being paid pittance wages. In 2005, things worsened further. In the
agreement, wages were increased by only Rs.8 over a three year period. Worst still, wages, for the
first time, became productivity linked. Horrifyingly, this defeat came after a long and resolute strike
of almost 15 days by the unions, when many workers lost wages for that period. In 2008, again the
tripartite agreement could yield only an increase of Rs.14 over three years and in 2011, wages were
increased by Rs.28 to reach Rs.95 after three years. In the process, with continuing inflation, the
gap between what the workers needed and what they got widened. Between 2003 and 2010, huge
numbers of starvation deaths took place, with studies showing that even workers in open gardens
were malnourished.
Table 3: Wage increment vis-a-vis inflation
Year
Increment(Rs)
Wage (Rs)

Increment (%)

1987-90
1990-93
1994-97

22.67
39.86
36.27

2.55
5.50
7.00

13.80
19.30
26.30

Inflation for the

corresponding
period
(compounded)
22.96
47.68
32.37

1997-2000
2000-03
2005-08
2008-11
2011-14
2014-17

8.50
11.10
8.00
13.10
28.00
37.50

34.80
45.90
53.90
67.00
95.00
132.50

32.32
31.90
17.43
24.30
41.79
39.47

27.05
21.31
17.63
34.64
32.22
??

A comparative study of the previous eight wage agreements since 1987 suggests that on four
occasions the hike for the three year period was much lesser than the inflation for the corresponding
period. On a couple of occasions the increment managed to beat the inflation by a few percentage
points. It is amply clear that workers have seen their real wages erode significantly making them
one of the worst sufferers at the expense of companies and international consumers. Secondly, the
compounded increment for the agreement period (2014-17) is 39.47 which is lower than 41.79 of
the previous agreement period (2011-14).
There are also debates regarding the calculation of inflation for workers. In India, inflation for
workers is measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) which is computed using the wholesale
price of a basket of goods. The WPI basket has a number of items that has very little to do with
workers' daily needs. For instance, the WPI keeps a tab of steel prices and the products that are
made from it. And it does not account for services of any kind, whether housing, transport or
education that impact consumers. Additionally, contrBeginning 2005-06:Q2 till 2012-13:Q4, with
the exception of few quarters during 2007-08 and 2011-12, food inflation in terms of wholesale
price index (WPI) remained above overall inflation. The quarterly food inflation grew at an average
rate of 10.16 per cent during this period compared with 6.76 per cent for overall inflation.

Failed commitments
During this period, other promises also remained on paper. After 33 years of Left rule, the West
Bengal government issued a gazette notification declaring a draft minimum wage in August 2010.
However, despite the fact that this wage could have been finalised and declared as the minimum
wage within three months of the draft notification, this was not done. The Left Front lost power in
May 2011, without having made such a declaration. In 2011, it was agreed that modalities for a
variable dearness allowance (VDA) would be worked out immediately. However, in the three years
between 2011 and 2014, the owners didn't care to work on this, nor did the TMC government force
the owners to abide by the agreement signed by them.
The present agreement has thus been preceded by wage agreements that gave pittance increases, by
broken promises and by a draft minimum wage notification that was never finalised. It was in this
atmosphere that the United Tea Workers Front (UTWF) was formed to bring together large unions
like DTDPLU (Darjeeling Terai Doars Plantation Labour Union) and PTWU (Progressive Tea
Workers Union) who were not part of the two existing joint committees of tea workers, the CITU
led Coordination Committee and the HMS led Defence Committee. This time from the very
beginning of wage negotiations the UTWF was not ready for any paltry lump sum

settlement, instead it stuck to the call to incorporate the tea industry within the purview of
minimum wages, under Minimum Wages Act, 1948. Initially, the rest of the unions, especially the
CITU led Coordination Committee was emphasizing on Variable Dearness Allowance, but
subsequently all unions (including UTWF members) formed the Joint Forum for minimum wages
and started demanding it unitedly. Several rounds of tripartite discussions failed. A few months ago,
the owners/planters association indicated that they would raise the wages by only Rs. 37.00 in three
years. The Government of West Bengal pushed the unions to accept that amount and promised that
they would look into the minimum wages matter later. At that point all the unions jointly
condemned the proposal and rejected it, leading to a failure of that round of negotiation. The present
agreement, which is being termed a 'Political Victory' has been settled after a few months for
exactly the same proposed amount. In a situation of frequent starvation deaths and deaths due to
malnutrition of the tea workers, what is the political victory achieved by increasing Rupees 10-20 a
day when on a national scale all the Central trade unions are demanding a minimum wage of Rs.
15000/- per month? In terms of amount of wage increase this agreement can therefore be termed
nothing short of shocking.
A questionable victory
Some unions have claimed a victory because the agreement is to remain in force till the wages
under Minimum Wage Act were effected. The agreement refers to a government notification,
declaring the formation of aMinimum Wages Advisory Committee for the state of West Bengal to
hold enquiries and advise the State Government in the matter of fixing and revising the minimum
rates of wages payable to the employees. The agreement requested this committee to give its report
as early as possible. The Government notified the minimum wage advisory committee on 17th
February 2014, three days before the agreement was signed. The agreement therefore did little to
add more teeth to this notification to ensure minimum wages in any way.

No deadline has been mentioned in the agreement for the completion of the Committees report and
its submission. Nor is there any guarantee that the State Government will accept the advice of the
committee and declare a minimum wage. The Minimum Wages Advisory Committee on the other
hand has been given a term of two years only. Keeping in mind the history of broken promises in
the tea sector, it is little wonder that a section of the workers feel they could be cheated once again.

If an agreed and signed tripartite agreement on VDA can be flouted so easily, we have reason to
believe that a separate and de-linked government notification can be easily thrown into the waste
paper bin. The signatories of the agreement have said that they shall continue their struggle for
implementation of minimum wage. Some of the major unions gave a deputation to the Governor
demanding minimum wages just a few days after signing the agreement, which shows that they
have little confidence in the agreement they signed. If struggle is the only way to achieve a decent
wage, then why did we stop and not carry on with the same unprecedented unity for a few more
months? Was there any sign of workers getting tired? Ir was the agreement giving us a remarkable
raise that would encourage the workers for more militant struggles? Neither of these is true. So the

question still remains why this agreement? whose interests were served?

It is a shame that the workers remain impoverished and that the collective bargaining process is
used for maintaining systemic exploitation in relative and absolute terms. Tea workers earn a
pittance of the profits garnered on the open market, especially in foreign countries. In effect,
multinationals and local capitalists are equally responsible for the super-exploitation of workers. It
is hard to believe that tea workers and their families can sustain on these wages-even if the cost of
living is minimal. This collective bargaining process maintains a system of oppression. We must
recognize the relative and absolute forms of exploitation among tea workers and all peasants in the
region. Relatively speaking they are no better off--in absolute terms they are entrenched in poverty
that is reminiscent of serfs in Tsarist Russia or slaves in the United States.
Postscript: The role of the Left and other small left unions
Who is the leader of the tall claim of political victory and successful settlement? It is the CITU, the
trade union front of CPIM who did not bother to consider the implementation of minimum wage in
the tea-sector in their 34 year long rule in West Bengal. Instead, they have continuously denied the
series of starvation deaths of tea workers during their regime. They painted those deaths as natural
or due to diseases or due to old age. Now, when they are out of power and similar deaths are taking
place one after another, their past shameless defence of starvation deaths through a series of lies is
being reiterated countered by the TMC government in a copycat fashion. When CPIM left office in
2011 the daily wages of the tea workers were just Rs. 68. Unfortunately, unions and forces that
claim to be struggling are tailing this CPIM. We are firmly of the opinion that the agreement that
has been signed and the settlement made is a starvation wage agreement.

It is unfortunate, but a fact that unions of CPIML Liberation, SUCI(C), CPIML Kanu Sanyal group
and PCC-CPIML are also part of this agreement. However, they are merely paper unions and
represent some tens of workers among few lakhs and therefore have no real claim of things shaping
in tea industries. Moreover, both the CPIML Liberation and SUCI(C), who otherwise have some
presence in the state and in other parts of the country, are suffering from political frustrations and
are taking refuge under the wings of CPIM, both in the state and in the country as a whole. While
for the PCC, the political bankruptcy has reached such a level that it advocates an alliance even with
bourgeois forces like the Congress or the TMC in the name of fighting the BJP's rise. The necessity
of an alliance with the bourgeois parties to fight the BJP, while depriving workers of their legitimate
dues and rights is highly questionable. Though it is a matter of another debate, one thing is sure for
now that it is impossible for these small left organisations to independently hold the flag of class
battle high. We believe that this role in the trade union field is merely the outcome of their political
decision to trail after the CPI (M) in the name of a bigger left unity even while the CPI (M) is
running after the Congress, and all the so-called secular democratic bourgeois parties.