Plantation Workers Hold Eighth All India Conference

Hemalata

 THE eighth National Conference of the All India Plantation Workers’ Federation was held in Chikmagalur, the coffee growing district in Karnataka, on December 26-28, 2002. The venue of the conference was named after Comrade Suryanarayana Rao, veteran leader of CITU and CPI (M) in Karnataka. The dais was named after Comrade Vimal Ranadive, the founder president of the Federation.

In all 204 delegates, including 28 women from Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, and Andhra Pradesh attended the conference, which was presided over by the working president, Ananda Pathak. CITU general secretary, M K Pandhe, was present throughout the conference and guided its proceedings. Kalayya, chairman of the reception committee welcomed the delegates.

Inaugurating the conference, M K Pandhe said that the condition of the plantation industry and of the workers in that industry in different states were not the same. The overall economic crisis that was prevalent world wide had its impact on the plantation industry too, though its intensity varied.  While the small and medium growers, particularly of tea and coffee were severely affected, the multinational corporations and the big industrial houses were trying to utilise the situation to increase their profits, by snatching away from the workers their hard earned benefits. There are attempts to freeze the DA, reduce bonus and curtail the trade union rights of the workers. In some places, the workers were forced to accept a reduction even in their wages under threats of closure of the gardens.

Pandhe explained the anti-worker and anti-people policies of the BJP led NDA government and exhorted the delegates to intensify the joint struggles to defeat these policies. He also warned them about the dangerous RSS game plan to establish a Hindu Rashtra by dividing the country on communal lines.

Lalaji Babu, general secretary of the All India Plantation Workers’ Federation presented the report in which he dealt with the conditions of the plantation industry in India in detail. He told that the wages of the tea plantation workers were the lowest among the organised sector workers in the country. The share of wages to total cost of production has declined from 28.8 per cent in 1987-88 to 20.1 per cent in 1991-92, inspite of two wage agreements and increase in wages during this period. On the other hand, the cost of management has increased.

CHALLENGES BEFORE THE FEDERATION

Greeting the conference, Hemalata, secretary CITU, referred to the different perceptions on the crisis in the plantation industry, particularly in the tea industry. She told that it was necessary to have an indepth study on the conditions in different sectors in the plantation industry, like tea, coffee, rubber etc in different states to reach a common understanding on the extent of the crisis. On the basis of such common understanding, the federation should work out different strategies and action programmes in different states to protect the interests of the workers in small, medium gardens and of those in big corporate houses and multinational corporations.

She emphasised the need to strengthen the organisation to effectively deal with the present challenges before the workers in the industry. She noted that though women constituted more than 60 per cent of the workers in plantations, only around 10 per cent of the delegates were women. She stressed the importance of developing women cadres and promoting them to the leadership positions. She also told that it was important to educate the workers on the government’s policies, the alternate policies to fight for, and train them in day to day trade union activities.

In the discussion on the general secretary’s report, 31 delegates, including 5 women participated.  While explaining the conditions of the industry and the workers in their own gardens and states, they also reported on the various attacks on the workers and the struggles launched by their unions. Some delegates pointed out the necessity of the federation to take more initiative to develop united all-India struggles of the plantation workers and strengthening the organisation.

The conference adopted resolutions - demanding pro worker amendments to the Plantation Labour Act, on the specific problems of women workers in the plantation industry and demanding formation of sexual harassment complaints committees in all the gardens, expressing solidarity to the struggles of the forest workers, expressing solidarity to the struggles of the central trade unions against the anti-worker policies of the central government and urging the plantation workers to participate in large numbers in the satyagraha on January 8 and the 'March to Parliament' on the  February 26th.

DEMANDS  

The conference decided to actively participate in the joint programme on the demands of the plantation workers, which include:

·        Immediate opening of all the closed gardens.

·        Proper implementation of the Plantation Labour Act and amendments to the Act in favour of the workers.

·        No wage cuts and freezing of DA. Ensure implementation of all existing benefits. Appropriate wages to ensure decent living conditions for the plantation workers.

·        Restoration of the interest rate on PF to 12 per cent.

·        Formation of Complaints Committees against Sexual harassment in all gardens as per the guidelines of the Supreme Court.

·        Immediate negotiations with all the trade unions of the plantation workers on their long standing demands and conditions in the industry.

·        Increase taxes to big plantations and provide relief to small and medium growers.

 ACTION PROGRAMMES

It was decided to conduct a massive signature campaign on these demands and submit a memorandum to the petitions committee of the Parliament. The conference also decided to observe February 19 as an all India Demands’ Day by holding garden level processions, rallies, dharnas etc, to mobilise plantation workers in large numbers in a 'March to Parliament', the date of which would be decided later. It was also decided to campaign for an all India strike on these demands.

To develop women cadre and to focus on their specific demands, it was decided to hold separate zonal conventions of women plantation workers in the South and North Eastern Zones and form women’s sub committees within the zonal committees of the federation.

Pandhe gave some important suggestions on the functioning of the federation, in his concluding remarks. He suggested that the south and north eastern zonal committees should meet at least once in four months. He pointed out the importance of ensuring full attendance in the meetings. He suggested that the next working committee should meet at the earliest to hold an indepth discussion on the conditions in the plantation industry, on the basis of written notes from each state. He also reiterated the need to promote women into leadership ranks and ensure their attendance in the committees.

A 42 member new working committee of the federation was unanimously elected with Hemalata as its president and Montu Bose as working president. Lalaji Babu was re-elected as the general secretary of the federation. One woman representative was included from each state.

A colourful procession of plantation workers, comprising a large number of women, from the nearby plantation districts of Hasan and Kodagu was organised on December 28. The procession culminated in a rally, which was addressed by M K Pandhe, Hemalata, Lalaji Babu, Hemachandran, Shriyan, and others. Sukumar, vice president of the federation and general secretary of the Chikmagalur district of CITU presided over the rally.