Siliguri, March 14: Trade unions in the tea sector today threatened to launch an industry-wide movement from next month if the wages and salaries of around five lakh employees are not revised from April 1.

The three-year treaty according to which tea workers are currently paid will expire on March 31.

This time, the unions want the period of service of workers to be taken into consideration while calculating the revised pay under the new agreement.

The Coordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers an apex body of tea trade unions, has proposed a scale of Rs 3,120-4,445 for permanent workers in service for 25 years. Those engaged in factories, spraying assignments and irrigation should be paid in the range of Rs 3,400-4,725 under the new scale, said Ziaur Alam, a Citu district secretariat member of Jalpaiguri.

For temporary workers in plantations and factories and irrigation, the daily rates have been fixed at Rs 120 and Rs 130 respectively. They now get Rs 53.90.

Separate pay scales have also been worked out for office and medical staff and technicians.

“Keeping in mind the All India Consumer Price Index (AICPI), we have unanimously decided on the proposed pay scales for permanent and casual workers, staff and sub-staff serving in the tea estates,” said Chitta Dey, the convener of the coordination committee today. “The industry has substantially recuperated from the bad patch that it was passing through (from 1998-2003) and right now, tea is fetching higher prices in auctions,” Dey said.

“We want the new wages to be settled at the earliest by the Bengal government and planters through tripartite discussion. If the owners are reluctant, there would be no other option for us but to go for an industry wide movement in the form of meetings, rallies, memorandums and even strikes,” the convener said.

The committee has also demanded a variable dearness allowance at the rate of one per cent per point rise in the AICPI to be added to the pay. “Those engaged in hazardous jobs or need to operate computers should be given an extra allowance of 25 per cent of their wages and salaries,” said Aloke Chakrobarty, the Intuc-district secretary of Darjeeling. “There are hundreds of vacancies in tea gardens which need to be filled up as well.”

The leaders however, admitted that the road to revised pay might not be easy.

Last time, the wage agreement had expired on March 31, 2003 but the next deal was signed on July 2005, after a gap of more than two years and a 15-day strike.

“We want the new salaries from April 1 this time. If the agreement is signed afterwards, the planters have to pay arrears from that date,” a trade union leader said. “We will hand over our demands on March 17.”