Tea plantations, which do not belong to the category of tea estates, are bearing the brunt of the 20 percent bonus advisory issued by the state labour department.
Protests began at Subarnapur tea garden last Monday, in the Kranti block of Jalpaiguri, after the management offered a bonus at a lower rate following a bipartite meeting with trade unions. On Friday, workers locked down the plantation.
Subarnapur, which sells tea leaves to a Kalimpong estate, is around 150 acres and has 169 permanent workers.
“We do not fall under the category of tea estates. Like other small tea plantations, we also attended a bipartite meeting organised by the Indian Tea Planters’ Association, where it was decided that plantations like ours (in terms of area) will pay a bonus at a 13.75 percent rate. We are ready to pay, but the workers are reluctant and want a bonus at a 20 percent rate,” said Riyaz Choudhury, the manager of Subarnapur tea garden.
“Time and again, workers are referring to the state’s advisory and are not ready to follow the bipartite agreement signed with the trade unions,” he added.
Mohammad Khadimul, a worker, said: “We are joining our work but simultaneously demonstrating at the garden. We will not settle at any rate lower than 20 percent. As the management has not disbursed the bonus till today, we have locked the office and the plantation’s gate.”
This is the second tea plantation in Kranti that has witnessed agitations over the bonus issue. On Thursday, another garden closed after protests.
“It is disappointing that the workers are not considering the fact that we are not a ‘large’ tea estate. Their protests have intensified over the past few days, and today, I have moved out of the garden as I was feeling unsafe,” said Choudhury.
Similar situations prevailed in tea estates.
On Friday, the workers of Nagaisuree, a tea estate in Matiali, resorted to a road blockade in the evening, demanding full payment of the 20 percent bonus. A source said the bonus was in two installments (12 percent and eight percent), but workers refused to accept it.
Such demonstrations led the manager of the Dharanipur tea estate to abandon the garden.
In Alipurduar, work was halted at Birpara’s Joybirpara tea estate on Friday. The workers insisted that management should disburse the 20 percent bonus immediately.
Sources said that management had announced they would pay a 10 percent bonus before Puja and discuss the remaining later.
As the workers launched protests, the authorities announced on Friday that the remaining 10 percent will be paid in two installments of five percent each, ahead of December 31, 2025, and before next year’s Holi.
The bonus was deposited in the workers’ bank accounts, sources said.
“This is unacceptable. If the management does not clear the entire bonus ahead of puja, the workers will not join the work,” said Suraj Chhetri, secretary of the Trinamool Cha Bagan Sramik Union at the garden.
Additional reporting by our Alipurduar correspondent