Under the banner of the Left trade unions, hundreds of plantation workers attached to the Travancore Rubber and Tea Company (TRTC) and Harrisons Malayalam Limited, who are on a strike demanding wage hike and better living conditions, blocked the Kollam-Thirumangalam National Highway 744 at Kazhuthuruty on Monday morning.
The workers squatted on the road raising slogans. The dharna was inaugurated by Communist Party of India leader K. Prakash Babu.
In his address, Mr. Babu said that the United Democratic Front government was betraying the plantation workers and unless their wage was hiked to Rs.500 the strike would not be called off.
He alleged that a section of plantation owners were given a free hand by the UDF government to exploit the workers.
It was the duty of the government to end such exploitation by keeping such owners under check.
K. Raju, MLA, presided.
District panchayat president S. Jayamohan, CPI(M) area secretary M.A. Rajagopal, and other LDF leaders spoke.
Traffic hit
Traffic through the NH came to a standstill for over two hours from 8 a.m. because of the blockade.
By 10.30 a.m., the police arrested and removed the demonstrators following which traffic resumed through the NH.
Talks
Meanwhile, the Labour Commissioner has called for talks in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday to address the TRTC strike.
The workers and their leaders said that if the management failed to settle the issue on Tuesday, they would shift their strike venue to Thiruvananthapuram in front of the house of company owner Ramakrishna Sarma.
