A tense situation prevails at the Travancore Rubber and Tea Company (TRTC) estate at Ambanad in Aryankavu panchayat with the workers threatening to encroach upon the 2,500-hectare plantation following the failure of Wednesday’s Plantation Labour Committee talks.
Sources said that with the support of trade union leaders the workers are serious about encroaching upon the estate “as a means of livelihood” since the company management is making moves to declare a lockout if the strike continues. The TRTC plantations comprise vast expanses of rubber, tea, clove, pepper and areca nut crops. The estate also has a tea factory.
Large quantities of tender tea shoots which should be picked every fortnight are maturing and going waste because of the strike.
The sources said that the workers, some 500 of them, have plans to encroach upon 2.5 acres each.
The workers feel that they could tap the rubber trees and, with the cooperation of the staff, they think they could run the tea factory. Though the management is aware of such moves, they are keeping their cards close to their chest. Years ago, the workers had resorted to such a tactic and that forced the management to settle the issue, a trade union leader told The Hindu .
