Tea Industry Wage Agreement in West Bengal

Tea Industry Wage Agreement in West Bengal VASKAR NANDY Being the president of a small union of tea workers and a minor participant in the latest wage negotiations, I became a signatory to the recent tripartite agreement (agreement) in the tea industry. Imagine then my surprise when a respected commentator on the industry such as Sharit K Bhowmik (September 17) makes some comments on that agreement that are simply without any basis. It is important to clear up the misunderstandings with regard to what is in store for the more than 3,00,000 tea workers of West Bengal. For two long years after the expiry of the last industrywide agreement, the planters had refused to even discuss a wage revision. Only the longest strike in the industry