Hundreds of tea plantation workers of Harrisons Malayalam Limited (HML) under the aegis of the Wayanad Estates Labour Union (WELU) affiliated to the CITU took out a march and staged a dharna in front of the HML office at Chundale in the district on Thursday raising a slew of demands including the provision of 20 per cent bonus to all workers during the 2014-15 fiscal.
Speaking after inaugurating the march, C.K. Saseendran, CPI(M) district secretary, said the anti-worker policies of the estate managements put close to 3,000 labourers working in 18 divisions of the four tea estates owned by the HML in a fix .
Though most of the tea estates in the State agreed to provide 16 to 20 per cent bonus to the workers after an indefinite agitation last year, the HML management took a decision to provide only 8.33 per cent bonus to its workers.
Indefinite agitation
The organisation would launch an indefinite agitation against the decision of the management and as a part of it the leaders of the organisation would stage a fast in front of the four estate offices of the HML in the district on February 15.
If the HML management failed to solve the issue before February 15, the WELU would lay siege to the tea factories of the HML, he added.
