Labour Pains

When it's Durga Puja time, bonus be far behind? At least that's what 10 lakh workers in about 850 teagardens in Assam are used to thinking. But the captains of the Rs 3,000-crore turnover industry have differentplans in mind this time. With the industry going through one of its worst phases in recent memory, mostcompanies have said they are in no position to pay even the statutory 8.33 per cent bonus, leave alone the 20per cent incentive that the tea garden workers in Assam are used to for the past two decades. Trouble overnon-payment of bonus is likely to erupt as the festive season gets nearer. 

The 10-day Durga Puja festivals, the time around which bonus is paid, is early this year, starting onOctober 2. With less than a month to go , the stalwarts of the industry are a worried lot. As Robin Borthakur,additional secretary, Bharatiya Cha Parishad (BCP), says: "The Assam tea industry has been going throughone of its worst phases in history. Price realization is down, costs are rising, and productivity isstagnating. Naturally, companies are cutting costs, leading to friction between managements and workers'unions."

But neither the Assam government nor the union leaders are convinced with this plea. Rameshwar Dhanowar,Assam's labour minister and himself a member of a tea worker's family, says: "We feel the companies areexaggerating the crisis. There is no reason why bonus can't be paid."  The government had in factconstituted a committee under Dhanowar's chairmanship to look into this matter. All Companies were accordinglyasked to submit their balance sheets of the previous financial year to the committee by August 30. But evenfour days after the deadline was over, just 36 companies have complied with the government order. Thecommittee has therefore not been able to take any decision on question of paying bonus so far.

For nearly two decades up to 2000, workers were routinely paid 20 per cent of their annual wages as bonus.For the past two years though, most tea companies have resorted to paying the bare minimum 8.33 per centbonus, creating resentment among workers. Admits Madhusudan Khandiat, veteran general secretary of thepowerful Asom Cha Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS): "Payment of lower bonus has definitely made the workers angrysince most of them feel that getting 20 per cent bonus is their birth right. Despite our best efforts we havenot been able to convince the workers that the minimum bonus according to law is 8.33."

Apart from the immediate problems about payment of bonus and wages, the industry is faced with newdevelopments. Gone are the days when workers accepted whatever their leaders told them. "The youngergeneration, with better education and exposure, is unwilling to accept the working conditions in the gardens.They are militant in their demands and do not listen to the seasoned leaders," a senior planter says.

ACMS, which has nearly 5 lakh members out of a total tea workforce of eight lakh in Assam, is by far themost dominant union in the state's industry. But even ACMS is now finding it difficult to reign in the risingdemands for better living conditions and increased payments. The increasing militancy among garden workers,who have traditionally been a staunch ally of the Congress, is reflected in the rising number of assault caseson top management personnel.

As Dhiraj Kakoti, Secretary of the Assam Branch of Indian Tea Association (ABITA) puts it: "Assaultson top tea managers by their own workers, virtually unheard of in the past decades, have increased alarminglyover the past five years. In our member gardens there have been 29 cases of severe assault on tea managers byworkers between 1998 and now, resulting in death of at least three tea executives." During the sameperiod, the number of abductions was nine. Militants also killed four executives in this five-year period. Theuncertain situation in the gardens has had unexpected fallout. Sources in the industry say at least 50 percent managerial staff has applied for leave just prior to or during the festive season, just to avoid facingthe workers' ire.

Quite clearly, the Assam tea industry, which produces more than 50 per cent of India's total tea output, iswitnessing a churning that will have far reaching consequences on its working. Competition from other teaproducing countries, rising costs, stagnant productivity and most significantly, falling domestic consumption,has brought about a major crisis in the tea industry. Labour trouble, virtually unknown till a decade ago hasonly added to the worries of the top brass.