The CITU has planned a road blockade at Chundel on the Kozhikode-Bangalore National Highway on September 28
A worker at one of the plantations in Wayanad plucks tea leaves. (Photo: DC)
Wayanad: While the Munnar unrest in the tea sector triggered widespread debates, the trade unions in Wayanad district have taken measures to check the trend from spreading.
The majority workers of Harrisons Malayalam Ltd. (HML), the major player in the plantation sector in Wayanad, had refused to receive the bonus (8.33 percent) announced and an agitation also is on under the aegis of Wayanad Estate Labourers’ Union affiliated to CITU.
However, in the light of new developments in Munnar the trade unions have also started fresh agitations to address the issues faced by workers.
The CITU has planned a road blockade at Chundel on the Kozhikode-Bangalore National Highway on September 28.
Meanwhile the Malabar Estate Workers’ Union (MEWU) affiliated to pro-Congress trade union INTUC has given a strike notice to the management from the same day onwards.
CITU leader P. Gagarin told DC that the organization stands for revitalizing the Plantation Labour Committee to address the changing needs of the time.
“We have already stopped the management from carrying out plantation works on contract basis and outsourcing labourers from other states including Tamil Nadu”, he added.
Mr Gagarin also opined that the plantations still follow an anti-women system. “When the male labourers finish their assigned work by noon, the women are not permitted to leave the estate though they finish the assigned job early”, he said.
In fact, the trade unions are worried over the dwindling number of labourers in the sector. Earlier the district had about 30,000 plantation labourers which came down to less than 20,000.
“Who will work in a sector where a worker with 42 years of service receives a pension of around Rs 1,000?”, asks MEWU secretary P.K. Kunjimoideen. “If the management fails to act positively to make the sector more labour friendly introducing novel schemes in pension and health care there will not be any workers in the sector in the near future”, said P.K. Gopalan, INTUC leader.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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