The state labour department is scheduled to hold the ninth tripartite meeting on tea workers’ wages at Uttarkanya in Siliguri on 22 February. The meeting will review the present state of affairs in the tea belt, the interim hike in the wages, transfer of value of ration and other issues, including a tripartite agreement until the implementation of the Minimum Wages Act.

Official sources said state labour minister Moloy Ghatak will convene the meeting with his top departmental officials. Sources also confirmed that besides Mr Ghatak, two other ministers, Gautam Deb, the state tourism minister, and Aroop Biswas, the minister for various departments including PWD, will attend the meeting. Mr Biswas is also an observer of the Trinamul Congress in Darjeeling district.

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The state labour department has also decided to discuss the interim increase in payments for staff and substaff of the tea industry. Notably, the state labour department has asked planters to start paying an interim increase of Rs 17.50 a day to rated tea workers with effect from 1 January 2018. Planters have started paying the enhanced wages of Rs 150 (Rs 132 + Rs 17.50) in many gardens.

However, a section of workers belonging to some trade unions associated with the Joint Forum, a conglomeration of over 23 trade unions, have refused to accept the interim wages, and are demanding implementation of the minimum wages and the traditional ration from the planters, besides food grains distributed under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). Significantly, tea workers in the Hills have not yet accepted the interim wages from the planters. Even GJMM-backed trade union leaders have been demanding implementation of the Minimum Wages.

“The state labour department has pressed the planters to hike the workers’ wages and payment is already under progress, though a section of the trade unions are opposing it. The state labour department is determined to settle the value of the traditional ration and transfer it to workers’ wages,” a senior officer of the labour department said. “The state labour department also plans to adopt a resolution on a fresh tripartite agreement until the Minimum Wages Act is implemented,” he added.