Minimum wage rate continued to elude over three lakh workers of the tea industry of the state as no decision was reached on the issue on Tuesday at the 18th meeting of the minimum wage advisory committee formed by the state government nine years back.
In Bengal, a tea worker receives Rs 250 as wage per day. The daily wage was revised last year by the state government.
As the state came up with the advisory to increase the daily wage from Rs 232 to Rs 250, a section of tea planters moved Calcutta High Court against it. The high court heard the case in August 2023 and said planters could not question the state government's authority.
Simultaneously, the court also instructed the state government to expedite the process of finalising the minimum wage rate for tea workers and gave six months for the task.
Acting on the court's order, the state labour department on Tuesday held a meeting at Shramik Bhavan, an office of the department, here in Siliguri.
Along with state labour minister Moloy Ghatak, members of the advisory committee were present at the meeting.
“We discussed several issues. It has been decided that another meeting will be held on January 30. This is because Calcutta High Court issued an order to fix the minimum wage within six months. During this period, certain documents on the issue will be circulated among members of the advisory committee and we hope they come up with appropriate inputs that can help us fix the wage rate,” minister Ghatak said after the meeting.
Mani Kumar Darnal, a convener of the Joint Forum — a common platform of 28 tea trade unions — said they said the total daily wage (cash component and fringe benefits) should be Rs 600.
“We have submitted a proposed structure of the minimum wage and believe the state will act on it,” said Darnal.
Trade unions and representatives of tea planters’ associations said once the minimum wage was fixed, it should apply to the small tea sector as well.
“Once the minimum wage is decided upon, it should be applicable for tea estates, small tea plantations as well as bought-leaf factories,” said a source.
