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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Unions demand hike in daily wages

Unions demand hike in daily wages

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published Published on Mar 28, 2011   modified Modified on Mar 28, 2011
Bagisa Shramik Santha and Asom Majuri Shramik Union, two registered unions of the state, have demanded that the tea industry should hike the daily wages of labourers on a par with wages given to workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) schemes.

The unions have over one lakh members across the state.

The Asom Majuri Shramik Union has its headquarters in Silchar while the Bagisa Shramik Santha has it headquarters at Titabar in Jorhat.

The demand comes in wake of the Centre increasing the daily wage of a labourer under NREGA schemes to Rs 130 from Rs 100 recently. The tea garden workers will have a hike of Rs 5 in their daily wage from April 1, after which the rate will go up to Rs 71.50.

The hike of Rs 5 will be in effect from April this year according to the conditions agreed to in a bilateral agreement between the Assam tea industry and the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha.

Under the agreement signed in February 2010, which came into effect from January 2010, there will be a hike of Rs 18 in the daily wages in three phases for a period of 45 months (three years and nine months).

Accusing the industry and the government of exploiting and neglecting the workers, the adviser to the unions, Devabrata Sarmah, said Rs 71.50 was too less to arrange for the daily food requirement of a labourer’s family.

Sarmah pointed at existing government data that a person needs 2,700 calories per day.

He said according to WHO norms, a person needs 3,200 calories of energy daily for proper functioning of the human body.

The adviser said the unions want the daily wage to be hiked to Rs 130 per day instead of Rs 5 from next month.

Sarmah said the long- standing demand of the two unions was to increase the daily wage to Rs 200 per day.

The adviser said the claim by the management that food ration was supplied to the workers at subsidised prices did not hold ground as the quality of rice and atta was “very inferior and bought at a very cheap price”.

He also said the government should set up a minimum wage board for tea estates similar to such organisations in other tea-producing states.

Sarmah said negotiations regarding any issue of the workers should be held between the industry and all the registered unions.

The Assam Tea Tribes’ Students’ Association (ATTSA) has demanded that the daily wage of garden workers be increased to Rs 100.

ATTSA assistant secretary Dhiraj Gowala said the agreement signed last year was “biased” towards the workers. He said the government had never tried to put pressure on the garden companies to ensure the labourers get a “fair deal”.

The Telegraph, 28 March, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110328/jsp/northeast/story_13773202.jsp


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