The joint action council of established trade unions in the plantation sector in Kerala will launch an indefinite strike on Monday to press for its demand for a daily wage of ₹500.

This follows the failure of negotiations brokered by the State Government earlier on Saturday, within the Plantation Labour Committee, which represents the managements of tea, cardamom, rubber and other plantations. While the talks thrashed out solutions for several demands including health insurance coverage, the talks got deadlocked over the crucial issue of raising daily wages from the current ₹232 to ₹500.

While managements were unwilling to move forward on the issue, contending that such a hike would force the shutdown of plantations, the unions stuck to the demand. The PLC negotiations will resume on Tuesday, while unions have announced that the indefinite strike will begin on Monday.

Munnar tea-leaf workers

However, representatives of women tea-leaf pickers of Munnar have announced that they will not join in the strike announced by the established trade unions.

They added that they pinned their hopes on the PLC talks on Tuesday. Kanam Rajendran, Secretary of the Communist Party of India’s Kerala unit, which has a strong trade union in the plantation sector, said the non-participation of the Munnar women wouldn’t affect the strike.

It was the Munnar women’s successful strike earlier this month for 20 per cent bonus that re-opened the issue of higher daily wages. The nearly 5,000 women tea-pickers of the Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company had, keeping out established trade unions, struck work for nine days and secured their main demand of higher bonus.

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