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Darjeeling Tea workers as well as from the plains to get 20% Puja Bonus

By on September 8, 2011 in Darjeeling Tea Updates, darjeeling tea workers, Tea News

Workers in most of the Darjeeling Tea gardens in the hills and the plains will receive Puja bonus at the rate of 20 per cent irrespective of the estates’ grade.

The stakeholders of the tea industry have pointed out that it is for the first time that gardens of all grades are paying bonus at 20 per cent, which is the highest rate permissible under the Plantations Labour Act.

The Dooars Branch of the Indian Tea Association and all trade unions in the plains reached a settlement at a five-hour long meeting in Calcutta this afternoon.

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The pact for the hills was signed between the Darjeeling Tea Association and labour wings of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, CPRM and the Congress in Darjeeling around 10 tonight.

It is believed that the deal for the Dooars and the Terai had a bearing on the bonus rate decided for the workers in the hills. In fact, the DTA had announced earlier that it would not be able to pay the Puja bonus at last year’s rate of 20 per cent.

The labourers of gardens in grades A, B and C in Bengal were paid bonus at 20 per cent last year. The rate was 18 per cent for Grade D gardens in the plains and 17 per cent in the hills in 2010.

The ease with which the planters and the trade unions in the plains sealed the deal is in stark contrast to the delay on their part to clinch an agreement on the revision of workers’ wages.

“Although planters denied us a decent hike in the wages after several rounds of negotiations, they agreed to pay bonus at the rate of 20 per cent. The rate was same in grade A, B and C gardens last year. Although workers in Grade D gardens were paid Puja bonus at the rate of 18 per cent last year, the rate has been increased to 20 per cent for them also,” said Samir Roy, the convener of the Defence Committee for Plantation Workers Rights.

The gardens are graded based on parameters like financial condition, scale of production and sale of tea.

The practice in the tea industry is that the bonus is calculated in proportion to the total wages a worker is paid in the previous financial year. The workers in the hills as well as the plains were paid Rs 67 a day in last financial year.

“This year’s Puja bonus will be deduced on the basis of the existing wage rate of Rs 67. From next year, the bonus would be paid as per the revised wage, which is yet to be fixed,” said a Dooars industry source.

Of the 208 estates in the plains, around 30 have been kept out of the purview of the deal as they were in financial doldrums and the workers in these gardens will be paid bonus at lower rates.

“Around 30 gardens have been kept out of the purview of the agreement owing to their financial conditions. These gardens will pay bonus, but at lower rates. The margin would vary from four to six per cent depending on the respective estate’s financial capacity,” said Prabir Bhattacharya, the secretary of the Dooars Branch of the Indian Tea Association.

Sandeep Mukherjee, the principal adviser to the DTA, said the gardens in the hills had agreed to pay the highest rate of bonus fixed under the Plantation Labour Act, 1951, with a hope that “it will encourage a good work culture and keep a check on absenteeism among labourers”.

The DTA has classified 12 gardens as Grade A. The number of gardens in grades B, C and D are 15, 16 and 17 respectively.

The Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union, an affiliate of the Morcha, said if the workers’ absenteeism was a problem, the managements should sort it out on their own.

“That should not be an excuse to deny the labourers a fair deal. There will always be co-operation on the unions’ part in the running of the gardens,” said P.T. Sherpa, the president of the union.

The Indian Tea Association, a forum of planters in the hills, has six gardens in grades A, five in Grade B, four in Grade C and one in Grade D.

The ITA is also expected to agree to the DTA’s bonus rate as in the past.

The DTA as well as the Dooars Branch of the Indian Tea Association have agreed to pay the bonus on or before September 24.

However, the Darjeeling deal states that gardens can disburse the bonus in two installments if they face any financial constraints.

Source: The Telegraph

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Darjeeling Tea worker’s bonus hint: less than 20%

By on August 23, 2011 in darjeeling tea workers, Tea News

Reported from Darjeeling: The Darjeeling Tea Association today said the planters will not be able to pay Puja bonus to Darjeeling Tea garden workers at last year’s rate of 20 per cent, an announcement that met with protests from the trade union of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

The planters said rampant absenteeism among tea labourers who are more keen on the 100 days’ work scheme, hike in workers’ wages and lower export orders because of recession had pushed up the cost of production, and hence, they cannot pay bonus at last year’s rate.

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In 2010, the Darjeeling tea industry, which produces the world’s premier brew, paid bonus at the rate of 20 per cent for grades A, B and C gardens and at 17 percent for estates in the Grade D category. The 20 per cent bonus is the highest fixed under the Plantation Labour Act, 1951.

The bonus percentage is calculated on the basis of the total annual earnings of a worker.

H.R. Chaudhary, the president of the DTA, today said: “Our production has come down because of several reasons. The production cost has increased by 45 per cent because of inflation and hike in wages by about 33 per cent. As a result, we might not be able to pay the annual bonus at last year’s rate.”

According to DTA officials, the cost of producing a kilogram of Darjeeling tea hovers around Rs 350-370. “The maximum selling price of organic tea at times is only about Rs 400 per kg,” said an official of the DTA.

Sandeep Mukherjee, the principal adviser to the DTA, said: “Our production last year was 7.96 million kg of tea. At one time, the industry used to produce 13 million kg of made tea annually.” This time, the crop production has come down, though the figures are not available yet. Planters said they calculated the profits from the first and second flushes in the beginning of the season.

“One major problem is the absenteeism among garden workers which at times is as high as 25 per cent. Most of them prefer the 100 days work scheme instead of plucking tea leaves,” said Mukherjee.

The daily wage this year has been increased to Rs 90 from Rs 67. Although the hike is the highest in the history of the Darjeeling tea industry, the wage is still less than what the workers get under the 100 days job scheme. The daily wage under the central scheme is Rs 130.

“It is actually not true that we are paying less. Even though we give Rs 90 as daily wage, there are other benefits like provident fund and annual bonus. If we take these into account, our daily wages work out to around Rs 130,” said Chaudhary.

Mukherjee said the only way to stop the absenteeism was if the 100-days work scheme was undertaken between November and February, the lean season for the industry.

“We had approached the district administration but they said it had to be undertaken according to the requirement of the villagers and not during specific months,” said Mukherjee.

The DTA also said the recession in the West was bringing down export orders. “Considering all these factors, it is not possible to pay bonus at last year’s rate,” said Chaudhary.

The DTA has 12 Grade A, 15 Grade B, 16 Grade C and 17 Grade D gardens. The Indian Tea Association, another planters’ body in the hills, has six Grade A gardens, five Grade B and four Grade C estates as its members. Only one Grade D garden is a member of the ITA.

The planters’ announcement has been criticised by the Morcha-affiliated Darjeeling-Terai-Dooars Plantation Labour Union. “What are they (planters) talking about? This proposal will never be accepted. In fact, looking into the overall scenario we want the planters to give bonus at the rate of 20 per cent even to Grade D gardens this year,” said P.T Sherpa, the president of the union.

The union said they had not pressed for other benefits — like construction of new labour houses and repair of existing ones, hospitals in gardens that do not have one and improved medical aid and other fringe benefits — to ensure that the bonus is high.

By Vivek Chettri, The Telegraph

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EC may approve Darjeeling tea GIs in 2 months

By on March 24, 2009 in Tea News

After waiting for one-and-a-half years, India expects to get geographical indications (characteristics of a commodity peculiar to a specific growing region) of the famous Darjeeling tea registered with the European Commission (EC) in the next two months.

The Tea Board also hopes to wrap up registration of traders of the Darjeeling tea in the UK and Germany, where it is already protected under the GI norms, by April 2009.

GI identifies a product as originating from a region or locality in a territory, where a given quality, fame and other characteristic of the product are essentially attributable to its geographical origin.

“We have provided the online registration facility for traders, both from the UK and Germany. By April, the process may be over,” Tea Board Chairman, Mr Basudeb Banerjee said.

“We had also approached the EC in November 2007 to approve the GIs of the Darjeeling tea so that other European countries get to recognise them. I am optimistic of getting the permission in the next two months.”

However, the Board’s primary focus is on the registration of traders in the UK and Germany as both of them, among European countries are the major importers of the Darjeeling tea, Mr Banerjee added.

PTI

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