Anit Thapa, the chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), on Monday sought the intervention of the Bengal government to ensure an annual bonus of 20 per cent for tea garden workers, drawing flak from various quarters, which said his plea undermined trade unions and established practices.
An agreement is typically reached on the annual bonus rate following negotiations between representatives of trade unions and tea planters. The minimum bonus is 8.33 per cent, while the highest rate is 20 per cent of a worker’s annual earnings.
Thapa, who is the president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), an ally of the Trinamool Congress in the hills, met Bengal labour minister Moloy Ghatak in Calcutta and submitted a memorandum, seeking the government’s intervention to ensure a 20 per cent bonus for the tea garden workers.
“The year, the workers of Darjeeling tea gardens have raised the genuine demand of a 20 % bonus, keeping in view the rising cost of living and their indispensable contribution to the industry,” Thapa wrote in his letter.
“In this regard, we request your urgent intervention to initiate discussion between management, trade unions, and the Labour Department so that the matter is settled amicably and in favour of the workers well before the festive season,” read the letter.
Saman Pathak, a former Rajya Sabha member and trade union leader of the CPM, said the bonus rate was always negotiated between the unions and the management, and only when there was a stalemate, the matter was referred to the government
for arbitration.
Pathak is part of the Joint Forum, a conglomeration of more than 20 trade unions of tea plantation workers.
“The plea for the government’s intervention when negotiations between the trade unions and the management have just started is a blatant act to undermine trade unions,” said Pathak.
The first round of talks between the Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA) and the unions, including that of the BGPM, took place on August 8. “The next round of talks is scheduled for August 25,” said a source.
A retired tea management official said a decision on the bonus rate was referred to the state government only when bipartite talks hit a roadblock.
“The state government intervened during the bonus negotiations last year, but even then, the workers received the bonus at the rate of 16 per cent,” said the retired official.
J.B. Tamang, the president of the Hill Terai Dooars Plantation Workers Union, which is affiliated with Thapa’s party, did not respond to calls from this newspaper.