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.

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