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Calcutta, Aug. 2: The tea industry has decided to link wages to productivity to bring down the cost of production.

Talking to The Telegraph, Indian Tea Association (ITA) chairman C. K. Dhanuka said, “We have no other way to bring down the production cost except by linking wages and productivity. We cannot reduce the wages of our workers. We have to increase productivity substantially to compete with other tea-producing countries.”

The industry has initiated talks with the workers of the Cachar tea area. In the next phase, discussions will be held with the workers of the Dooars region.

“We have already explained the situation to trade unions. They will now talk to the workers and get back to us. If they fail, the management will talk to the workers directly. We have already got the support of the chief ministers of Bengal and Assam to introduce new productivity norms,” Dhanuka said.

Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has already made it clear that the workers in the tea gardens will have to increase their productivity substantially to help revive the industry. He has also indicated that new norms, setting a minimum output per person, would be drawn up in consultation with the management and trade unions.

The industry is emphasising on increasing the production of green leaf and tasks like plucking and pruning by at least 25 per cent. However, it may vary from one garden to another, Dhanuka added.

Industry officials said the wages of the workers have risen faster than the consumer price index. The tea industry is the second-largest employer after the Railways.

Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Dooars have over 2.5 lakh permanent workers and more than six lakh are dependent on the industry. Apart from the wages, the entire social cost of the workers, including their food and shelter, is borne by the industry. Permanent workers are given housing, electricity, fuel, blankets, aprons and umbrellas free of cost. Under the Plantation Labour Act, 1951, every garden has to maintain a hospital and paramedical staff. Earlier, the gardens used to maintain primary schools, which have been taken over by the government.

“The wages are already higher than most of the tea-producing nations. We want to make it clear that prices might recover in a certain year. However, this does not mean that the industry start rejoicing. If we have to maintain our competitiveness in the world market, productivity should always remain on the higher side,” Dhanuka added.