The turmoil in Kerala which crippled tea production — a wilting industry, anyway — is a pointer to the lack of labour-inclusive polices. In an industry where nearly 70 per cent of production costs goes towards wages, it has been amply demonstrated how labour unrest can bring plantations to their knees.
The recent uprising in Kerala has dealt a body blow to the 8,500-odd plantations in the country. What unfolded in Kerala was the usual case of vested agendas prevailing over workers’ interests, with the usual peace-brokering by the government. Unions have played second fiddle in the recent agitation. Workers’ interests were not addressed in any fundamental sense; instead of their colonial-style, feudal relations with the management coming under the scanner so that the sector as a whole benefits, some token wage hikes were agreed to.
There can be no denying that the condition of tea workers calls for improvement in wages, safety, health, working and living standards. An industry with such a huge labour force cannot absolve itself of its commitment to labour.
Labour deserves, in addition to wages and other long-term benefits, a stake in ownership. The master-servant relation, a legacy of the British, has no place in today’s context.
Learning from formal sector Labour deserves a stake through adequate devolution of shares. It deserves at least a 25 per cent stake in ownership to begin with, with stakes going up linked to productivity.
There should be opportunities for vertical mobility of labour, with investment in education. Individual wages are too meagre for savings to be carried forward to subsequent generations. Therefore, life within the plantation needs to be improved for workers to continue there — for their sake and for the next generation. Opportunities to pursue alternative jobs within and outside plantations need to be encouraged. Plantations should have adequate labour representation on the board of governance and the culture of all-male management should be brought to an end. With some of the banks reserving 3 per cent of their annual profit to employees, companies coming forward to allot preferential shares at base price, offering 20-30 per cent bonus, 25 per cent dividend, biannual increments, and non-financial allowances, including schooling for children, there is no reason why tea industry workers should not get the same. The industry needs to understand the value of engaging labour in management conversations.
Employee-centric model With blatant violation of labour standards, it is hard to understand how plantations obtain certification of various kinds and live up to global benchmarks.
Tea requires an employee-run business model not only to serve the larger interests of labourers but also to serve the companies’ objective of incrementally increasing productivity.
With Munnar contributing to half the tea produced in Kerala, the tumult among about 13,000 workers in seven major plantations could take the agitation forward across the misty valleys in the country. Workers have not benefited from the buoyancy in tea prices in the last 10 years; therefore, the current lull in the tea market should not come in the way of a wage hike. However, a true change in labour-management relations is called for.
If the current status quo is not shaken, the working class is likely to leave plantations in pursuit of greener pastures.
The writer is the regional programme director of CARE India. The views are personal