Hike hope: Workers at an Assam tea garden

Sept. 17: Barely 10 days after the tea industry thought it had amicably settled the Puja bonus issue by agreeing to pay one per cent more than last year, workers in the Cachar tea belt upped the ante, asking for a two per cent hike.

Labourers in 104 tea estates spread over Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi are now pinning their hopes on a meeting between the Cachar Cha Sramik Union, an Intuc-affiliated organisation, and industry captains for a decent bonus.

The workers’ union had initially asked for a five per cent hike over last year’s bonus but was immediately shot down by the Indian Tea Association’s Surma Valley branch.

Just when the management was preparing for a showdown with workers, the labour union climbed down from its original demand and asked for a two per cent hike instead.

But the rise in bonus is unlikely to be approved.

The secretary of the Surma valley branch of the Indian Tea Association, Sumanta Guhathakurta, this morning dubbed the demand as “impossible”.

Though the tea business was just beginning to look up, the industry bore the brunt of recession till the last fiscal of 2006-07, said Guhathakurta.

“Since bonus is paid on the basis of last fiscal’s accounts, the rate of bonus this year will not reflect the current boom time in the gardens,” he said.

With none of the parties willing to budge from their stands, the district administration has decided to broker peace.

The Hailakandi district’s deputy commissioner, Tapan Chandra Goswami, has convened two meetings today, one with the Indian Tea Association and the Tea Association of India and the other with labour union leaders.

Cachar deputy commissioner Goutam Ganguli and his Karimganj counterpart Bhupendra Sharma also held similar meetings last week.