Posted on 07/26/2005 3:31:48 AM PDT by Our_Man_In_Gough_Island
Nearly 500,000 tea workers have ended a strike in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal after unions agreed to accept performance-related pay. The strike had brought production at more than 300 tea gardens to a halt.
Unions settled for a 15% rise in daily wages, and agreed pay would be linked to productivity. They had long resisted the move and wanted pay doubled.
Tea is West Bengal's main export and the state government intervened in the strike which began on 11 July.
Weekly target
The final settlement was signed by representatives of 14 tea workers' unions and representatives of the planters' association.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya was present at the final round of negotiations in which the draft of the settlement was finalised.
Tea is a vital part of West Bengal's economy
The state's Labour Minister, Mohammed Amin, said the tea workers will now get a 15% rise in their daily wages spread out over the next three years and their daily compensation has been almost doubled to 4.5 rupees (10 cents) a day.
"Look at how the left government has handled the tea strike in Bengal," he said.
"There was no violence during the strike and we tried our best to protect their [the workers'] interests as much as possible."
Wages will now be linked to a specific quantity of tea leaves that the labourers are expected to pluck.
If their productivity falls, they will lose out on wages.
But the unions managed to get the plantation owners to agree on a weekly rather than a daily plucking rate, so that the picker can have enough time to make up for shortfalls on certain days.
The Indian Tea Association says the industry has lost up to 200m rupees ($4,597,137) a day because of the strike. The tea workers have also suffered in lost wages.
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Here is a link to a prior legacy post on the strike:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1449985/posts
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