The Joint Forum, an apex body of around 30 tea trade unions in north Bengal, has asked tea workers of the region to wear black badges while joining their duties on Thursday to protest the state's inordinate delay — 10 years — in fixing their minimum daily wage rate.

The trade union leaders, who made this announcement here on Wednesday, said 10 years had passed since the Trinamool state government formed a committee to recommend a minimum wage rate for Bengal's tea industry.

The committee was formed on February 20, 2015, comprising stakeholders of the tea industry and officials of the state government.

“When the committee was formed, it was decided that the minimum wage rate would be decided and implemented within six months. But a decade has passed and no decision has been made. The workers are deprived of their basic right of a minimum wage,” said Avijit Majumdar, a representative of the forum.

“We consider it as a ‘decade of deceit’ and thus, the workers will wear black badges in protest while doing their work tomorrow (Thursday, February 20) across the hills, the Terai and the Dooars," he said.

He added that any further delay in addressing the issue would prompt them to launch an extensive movement across the north Bengal tea belt.

So far, around 15 meetings of the committee have been held but a consensus on the wage rate has not been reached. Over the years, planters have also voiced concerns that fixing a higher wage rate as the minimum wage can pose a question on the sustainability of the industry.

Over these 10 years, the state government has intervened with interim hikes in tea wages. The last such hike was done in June 2023, based on which a worker receives ₹250 as daily wage now.

Representatives of the forum have also protested chief minister Mamata Banerjee's recent announcement that tea estates can use up to 30 per cent of their vacant land for non-tea purposes.

“This decision will affect the tea industry in a major way. The chief minister should withdraw her decision or else tea trade unions will be forced to protest in the Terai and the Dooars like they are in the hills,” Ziaul Alam, the forum convener, said.