The state government will hold a tripartite meeting with tea garden owners and unions on 12 February to mitigate the overall problem of the workers. A resolution has been taken for hiking the daily wages of tea garden workers by Rs 17.50.
The revised daily wages will now be hiked from Rs 132.50 to Rs 150. Presently, there are 282 tea gardens among which 109 are in the hills. According to Nabanna sources, the meeting will be attended by state government representatives, management of tea gardens and Joint Forum of Trade Unions of Tea Industry of West Bengal (a conglomeration of 26 tea trade unions).
Discussions will be held on the overall problems of the workers along with a host of issues ranging from ration system for tea garden workers to bringing them under the banking purview, said a source. Joint Forum has been demanding an implementation of minimum wages and the inclusion of ration wage component in the wages.
“Wages of tea garden workers are revised every three years. A committee has been constituted by the government to look into the implementation of minimum wages. Earlier, the management used to distribute food grains in subsidised rate but now the state government is distributing 35 kg of food grain per worker under the National Food Security Act,” said a Nabanna source.