Thrissur: Due to the protest by nearly 1,500 Indian Coffee House workers in front of the office of the South Kerala Indian Coffee Board Worker’s Co-operative Society at Sakthan Nagar here, the inspector of the co-operative department, who was meant to take over the administration of the office on Monday, did not. The board, functioning under the Industries Department, was on Saturday dissolved by the General Manager of the District Industries Centre, who acts as the registrar of the Board. All the Indian Coffee Houses in south Kerala, from Thrissur to Thiruvanathapuram, is under this board and nearly 2,500 workers of 52 Indian Coffee Houses protested on Monday by shutting down their hotels against the decision to dissolve the society and its managing body before the end of its tenure.
“We did not have any union since 1958 when the society was formed. But a year ago, CITU formed a union with the backing of nearly 50 workers. Now, the decision of the state government to dissolve the elected managing body of the society citing false charges of financial misappropriation and nepotism was done as directed by the CITU with the intention of controlling the society,” secretary of the dissolved managing body S S Anil said. The society had a turnover of Rs 121 crore last financial year and kept aside Rs 32 lakh after paying salaries and other benefits of all the 2,500 workers, he said. A worker at the entry-level got a salary of Rs 13,000 and the managers get Rs 45,000 excluding the bonus and other benefits at Indian Coffee house, he said.
