A woman cycles in a garden closed during a strike called by trade unions on Wednesday. (Biplab Basak) Siliguri/Jaigaon, Aug. 11: Tea planters today threatened to shut down gardens in the Dooars and Terai if workers continued with strikes and embargo on the despatch of manufactured tea to markets to demand a hike in daily wages.
The two apex bodies of trade unions, on the other hand, decided to go ahead with a general strike across north Bengal tomorrow to increase the wage from Rs 67 to Rs 130.
The Progressive Tea Workers? Union will not take part in tomorrow?s strike, but has chalked out its own agitation plans for the next fortnight. The union, affiliated to the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad, has been stalling the despatch of manufactured tea from the gardens since August 5 to press for the demand.
?The CCPA has met among its constituents and have now resolved that if the path of agitation, that is, strikes and road blockade continues, management would have no other option but to consider suspension of operations to limit collateral damage,? reads the release issued by Monojit Dasgupta, the secretary-general of the CCPA (Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations).
The planters also said rivalry between unions was also contributing to the troubles of the industry.
?The path of agitation has been further complicated by inter-union rivalry?there is clear evidence that decisions of PTWU central leadership are not percolating to or not being observed in grassroots. Confrontation like situation between union groups is also reported in gardens. It is these conditions that may eventually lead the industry to take precipitate action on the lines already stated.?
The CCPA iterated that the strikes and the embargo on the despatch of tea had hit the operations in the gardens and resulted in losses.
?The continuing accumulation of manufactured teas in estates, constrained by limited factory space, is leading to choking of manufacturing operations and consequential delays of dispatching teas to auction centres and other markets is resulting in delayed cash flows, which might cripple a cash-based industry like tea with limited recourse to credit,? said the CCPA.
The trade unions, however, are not ready to budge from their stance. ?The attitude of tea planters in the six rounds of talks held to reach an agreement on wages was utterly disappointing,? said Chitta Dey, the convener of the Coordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers.
?That is why we are on strike to mount pressure on the planters in the interest of over two lakh workers and their families.?
The Co-ordination Committee and another body of trade unions, the Defence Committee for Plantation Workers? Rights, enforced a strike in the gardens in the plains yesterday and today. They have called a general strike across north Bengal tomorrow.
?We have received an overwhelming support from political parties and organisations and expect it to be a complete shutdown tomorrow,? said Dey.
The Parishad union has called a strike in the gardens on August 17 and 18 and a bandh in the plains from August 22 to August 24.
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