Labour unrest spreads in tea plantations in Kerala

The series of strikes began when thousands of workers, of Kannan Devan Tea, mainly women, had blocked Munnar town for nine days continuously

Workers of various tea plantations across Kerala are now on an indefinite strike demanding an increase in the minimum wage to Rs 500 per day. The  striking workers are blocking main roads and not allowing top managers to attend their offices.  

Thousands of workers, of Kannan Devan Tea, under the management of Tata,  mainly women, had blocked Munnar town for nine days continuously for want of 20% bonus and a  minimum wage of Rs 500. The strike had been withdrawn on an agreement of 8.33% bonus and 11.67% ex-gratia allowance.

The government will convene a meeting on 22nd of this month to discuss the rest of their demands. Interestingly, the workers opted violent mode of agitation, blocking all roads to Munnar, discarding all the recognised  trade unions like INTUC and CITU. It was women workers who led the strike, which was a first of its kind in the history of plantations in the South. Workers did not allow the trade union leaders to even to come to the strike location.

In the light of the 'victory' of Munnar model strike workers of other major plantation companies like Harrison Malayalam are now on an indefinite strike at various locations. This may aggravate the crisis in the plantation sector of the South, which is reeling under pressure because of cost escalation and fall in prices.

Vijayan Rajes, President, United Planters Association of Southern India [UPASI] said that South India plantation industry pays one of the highest basic wages in the country. In a statement issued he said that it is as high as Rs 232, daily for the tea plantation workers in Kerala.

These wages added with statutory and other benefits works out to Rs 410.72 per day. The government also provides employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the wages paid to the workers under the scheme is only Rs 229 per day. The wages to plantation workers are not arbitrarily decided  by the management but fixed through negotiations as per the law. It is intriguing to note that the basic wage of tea plantation workers in Kerala has gone up by 5.19 times or 590% since 1995 while the average South India tea price has gone up only 1.95 times or 195%. The basic wage for a tea plantation worker in 1995 was Rs 44.71 per day and the average tea price was Rs 41.25 whereas the wage per day now is Rs 232 and the tea price is Rs 80.42.

The tea plantations are on a serious crisis, especially the small and medium segment in Kerala and Tamilnadu as there is steep fall in prices since 2014. Average price dropped Rs 15/Kg in 2014 and further dropped Rs 6 in this year to hover around Rs 80/Kg.