Trade unions (TUs) in the plantation sector may have to settle for anything between Rs.300 to Rs.350 as daily wages at the crucial Plantation Labour Committee (PLC) meeting to be held on Monday, according to indications.
Around 3.25 lakh workers of the plantations across the State are on the warpath for the past one week demanding Rs.500 as wages a day. With the plantation owners talking tough and panchayat elections round the corner, pressure is mounting on the State government and the unions for an early settlement of the issue. On record, all the trade unions in the sector had been demanding Rs.500 a day as daily wages. However, considering the prevailing industrial atmosphere, the trade unions may have to climb down on their demand, said a prominent trade union leader from the sector who wished not to be quoted.
Over the past 63 years of the PLC deciding the wages, the unions could achieve only a hike of Rs.82 to the basic wages of the workers. The maximum hike that could be achieved for the workers was during the tenure of A.K. Antony as Chief Minister. That time, the government notified the wages by announcing a hike of 22 per cent. The government was forced to go in for the notification of wages as negotiations failed to end the stalemate, he said.
If the unions would be successful in achieving a hike in the range of Rs.300 and Rs.350, it would be one of the biggest wage hikes the workers could achieve in recent times. At present, the basic pay of the worker was Rs.232 a day, he said.
Team to meet Minister
A six-member delegation of Pengal Otrumai left for Thiruvananthapuram for a pre-meeting discussion with Labour Minister Shibu Baby John.
With the plantation owners talking tough and panchayat elections round the corner and around 3.25 lakh workers on strike for the past one week, pressure is mounting on the State government and the unions for an early settlement of the issue.
Meanwhile in Munnar, 24 women belonging to the Pengal Otrumai, started a hunger strike in place of the five who began the strike on Saturday.
