The state labour department on Tuesday issued an advisory to the Darjeeling tea industry to pay a bonus at the rate of 16 per cent to the workers, a proposal that was immediately rejected by the unions that responded by giving a call to bring the sector to a grinding halt.

The advisory was issued by the office of the additional labour commissioner during the fifth round of talks in Siliguri on Tuesday. Union leaders said they were informed about the meeting around 11pm on Monday, which many believe is a fallout of the 12-hour general strike that eight hill unions had called across Darjeeling hills on Monday.

“We were informed about the meeting around 11 last night. While we sat on the meeting, we found out that the advisory had been leaked to the management and the media even before it was placed before the union,” said former Rajya Sabha MP and Citu leader Saman Pathak.

The advisory signed by Shyamal Datta, the additional labour commissioner, advised the Darjeeling industry to pay 16 per cent bonus and that “severely financially stressed” gardens could decide the rate of bonus and subsequent disbursement at a bipartite-level meeting between the management and the tea unions.

The department also advised the gardens to complete disbursement by Friday. The labour department argued that since the tea gardens of Dooars and Terai had agreed on a 16 per cent bonus, the government was also trying to maintain “parity” throughout the industry through this advisory.

The Darjeeling tea garden workers are demanding a bonus at the rate of 20 per cent of the workers annual earning which is the highest permissible bonus rate. Bonus rates are usually agreed during bipartite meetings between the unions and the management. Following a stalemate, the management had approached the labour department to facilitate the negotiations.

The eight hill unions unitedly opposed the government’s advisory and vowed to bring the industry to a grinding halt. “Our workers will lock the garden offices from tomorrow (Wednesday) so that the management cannot compute the bonus. Workers will demonstrate throughout the day in front of factories and offices and will not attend work but the management will have to pay their wages,”
said Pathak.

The call to lock offices stems from the unions’ fear that the management might immediately transfer the bonus online. “We will also organise a massive rally of tea garden workers in Darjeeling from 11am tomorrow. We will then decide on the course of action,” said J.B. Tamang, the president of Hill Terai Dooars Plantation Workers Union, affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM).