COIMBATORE: Tea estate workers in the Valparai Hills in Coimbatore will get a wage of Rs 475 per shift which is Rs 50 more than they had been paid since 2021.
This was decided during the ninth round of wage talk between tea estate managements and trade unions that concluded on Thursday night at the Planters Association Office in Coimbatore,.
The wages of tea estate workers are revised by the managements every four years. The last wage agreement was made in July 2021 and it ended in June 2025.
To revise the wage, negotiations between trade unions and estate managements should have started before the expiry of the previous agreement.
The Nilgiris Planters Association and the Wayanad Planters Association had revised the wage agreement after several rounds of talks on July 10. As per the agreement, wage has been revised up to Rs 475 per shift.
However, no wage agreement could be reached in Valparai as tea estate managements refused to increase the wage beyond the one being provided in the Nilgiris and Wayanad estates. But the breakthrough came in the ninth round of talk between the management and representatives of trade unions and it ended with the agreement on Thursday night.
The unions that participated in the talks were Labour Progressive Union (LPF), Anna Thozhirsanga Peravai (ATP), AITUC, INTUC, VCK etc.
The tea estate managements have sought two months to pay the wage arrears to workers. During the talks the managements declined to immediately release arrears pending from July 1.
"Tea estate managements have finalised the wage talk with Rs 475 as a wage for the worker per shift. However, the managements refused to settle the arrears during the talks. After our consistent negotiation, they agreed but they sought six months to settle the arrears in four installments. But, as insisted on settlement it was finalised to clear the arrears after two months. As per the agreement, an arrear of Rs 6,240 will be given to an employee and a total of Rs 4.68 crore will be paid as arrear to 16,000 workers," said V Ameed, general secretary of tea estate workers union affiliated to the ATP.
20% bonus for Tasmac employees
Tasmac employees across the state will get a 20% bonus ahead of Deepavali. However, trade unions pointed out that the management did not settle bonuses to around 500 workers who were facing departmental actions. A John, president of Tasmac Employees Union affiliated to the CITU, said, "Earlier, the management had given an ex-gratia up to 11.67%. When we started demanding an increase of bonus, the management increased it up to 12.43% but it reduced ex-gratia by 4.1% to 7.57%. It seems employees are provided up to 20% bonus but it is the same amount which was received last year."
