Guwahati: The Assam government will use the Aykroyd formula, a method of fixing minimum wages stipulated by the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, to calculate the wages of tea garden workers, minister for tea tribes welfare, labour and employment Pallab Lochan Das said on Friday.

The Aykroyd formula, attributed to Dr D. Aykroyd who was the director of nutrition division, Food and Agriculture Organisation, UN, takes into account the basic needs of a human being while fixing wages, like nutrition and prices of commodities. This is expected to increase the minimum wages of workers.

Tea wages in Assam have so far been decided according to the bilateral wage agreement signed between the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) and the Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations (CCPA), Assam Valley branch. The state government had no role in it.

Das said the indifference of previous governments in fixing minimum wages had compromised the interests of tea workers. He also criticised the ACMS for signing a wage agreement in 2010 that fixed two different daily wages for tea workers of the Brahmaputra Valley (Rs 137 per day) and Barak Valley (Rs 115 a day).

Das said on December 15, all tea workers' unions and garden managements were asked to suggest what should be the minimum wage so that negotiations could be initiated and a consensus evolved. Only a few suggestions have been received so far. Most tea garden managements and workers' unions are yet to respond.

Das said the Minimum Wages Advisory Board, which was formed by Dispur last year to fix minimum wages of tea workers, will hold a meeting on March 7. The board, headed by Das, comprises secretaries of the departments of labour welfare, finance, industry and commerce, food and the civil supplies, five representatives of tea companies and four of workers' unions.

Rupjyoti Kurmi of the Congress said the government should have brought the new wage agreement into effect from January 1.

Assam has 767 big tea gardens and 78,268 small tea gardens.