COIMBATORE: Imagine yourself standing and plucking tea leaves for eight straight hours a day. This is regular for the plantation workers in Valparai and all they get in return is a meagre Rs 445 per day. Despite MPs and MLAs doling out assurances, the ground reality has not changed for the workers.
Unable to fend for themselves, several families have migrated to Coimbatore and Tiruppur in search of jobs. The situation of workers would have been better if estate authorities implemented the revised wage settlement announced by the state government in 2021.
According to sources, the government had proposed Rs 510 as wages and the chief minister made the announcement. However, estate management approached the court against the order and subsequently struck a deal with trade unions for Rs 445 (including dearness allowance). An estate worker in Kerala is getting Rs 483.
S Murugan, a tea estate worker at Villoni estate, told TNIE that he works from 8 am to 5 pm and gets Rs 445. “Due to the soaring price of rice, we buy it from ration shops only. The price of oil and pulses is also very high in the open market. Even a visit to a hospital costs Rs 500 to Rs 1,000. Our wages should be increased according to the price rise situation.”
Most of the workers TNIE spoke to narrated a similar tale of woe.
“We are living in dilapidated residential quarters under constant threat of wild-animal intrusion. Despite appealing to estate authorities, no repair or renovation work was carried out,” said S Arumugam (56) who works in Karumalai estate and has been living here for the past four decades. Despite MLAs and MPs campaigning passionately, none of them has given an assurance to increase wages, he added. “They consider us only as vote banks,” Arumugam lamented.
M Asha of Pandalur in Nilgiris said she works 26 days in a month and the Rs 11,500 wage is not enough to run her family of three. “I don’t know any other work and I am dependent on the estates for my livelihood,” she said.
V Paramasivam, Valparai taluk secretary of CPM said, “Aside from meagre wages, the workers have no basic facility. A cradle facility for children of women workers and a study centre are some of the basic needs that must be met immediately.”
“If the government order is implemented, each worker will get an additional Rs 30 and the wage will be around Rs 470. Even this is very low. As per the norms, wage revision should be done once in four years but the announcement has been legally entangled for the past three years. We hope for a favourable decision from the high court,” said V Ameed, president of Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Workers Union. According to him, the estate workers in Tamil Nadu will get more wage than those in Kerala if their demand for Rs 650 to Rs 700 is met next year.