Tata Tea faces heat after suspending 8 garden workers

The following story was published in the in English-language Indian press and covers the on-going campaign to defend the rights of tea workers at the Tata-controlled tea garden Nowera Nuddy in West Bengal. The story is presented here for the information of readers but does not necessarily reflect the views of the IUF.

Tata Tea plantations in north Bengal are likely to face stiff protests from a section of tea plantation workers. Tea workers’ unions in Jalpaiguri district are planning to launch an agitation against the management to protest the termination of eight workers of Nowranuddy Tea Garden (Amalgamated Plantation Limited).

The management of Nowranuddy Tea Garden has showcaused these eight workers and declared them “guilty” after a departmental enquiry. Criminal charges have also been brought against about a dozen of the workers.

In an incident on August 9, 2009, an eight-month pregnant Arti Oraon started having labour pain in the tea garden. According to representatives of the Progressive Tea Workers Union, she was not provided an ambulance even in that condition. Subsequently, she was also not given any maternity leave.

Representatives of the union say that after the workers protested against this, the tea garden was closed till August 27 and subsequently kept shut for three months. In April 2010, a domestic enquiry was carried out against the workers and eight of them were suspended.

Criminal charges were also brought against many of the workers, including Arti Oran herself, the woman who had been denied maternity leave. “If the management of the tea plantation does not come to discussions, We will go for protests at the Nowranuddy Tea Garden and other tea gardens. We have already started gate meetings in front of the tea garden,” said Soham Lakra, joint secretary of Progressive Tea Workers Union.

The other Tea plantations of the Tata Group in north Bengal where the union has said that it will start protests are Rangamati Tea Garden, Batabari Tea Garden and Dandim Tea Garden.

As the tea plantation workers’ unions have decided to protest, some other unions like Paschim Banga Khet Majur Samity have also decided to join the stir. “We have decided to hold protests at the central office of the Tatas in Kolkata. How can a company which is said to be so employer-friendly deny maternity leave to a woman and then bring about criminal charges against her,’ said Anuradha Talwar, president of samity.

Source: Indian Express, 3 July 2010