Tea workers seek fair wage talks

The workers from Kanjiparai, Mudis and nearby areas that are far away from Valparai and close to the Kerala border said that there are around 35,000 labourers working in the 56 private estates there. They claimed that according to the last wage agreement that is expiring now, they are fixed a target of 47 kg tea leaves per person per day for a daily wage of Rs 234. 

Contrarily, their counterparts working for the same company’s estates on the other side of the border that is only a few metres away get a daily wage of Rs 313, for plucking 23 kg of tea leaves a day. They alleged that recently the estate managements had conducted talks with the representatives of a few trade unions to fix the wage for the next three years. 

They claimed that they came to know that their wage was fixed at Rs 294 a day as the estate managements influenced the leaders of those politically backed trade unions. Petitioners said that unhappy with the way the trade unions were functioning many labourers like them are not members of them. Considering the welfare of labourers they made an appeal to the government to conduct talks for a fair wage fixation for them along with the managements.