Lila Baral/Biplav Bhattarai 

TEA estates and refineries based in Jhapa have remained closed since Sunday due to workers’ protest. Three tea worker unions—Nepal Independent Tea Workers Union, All Nepal Tea Workers Association and Nepal Tea Estate Workers’ Association—are staging protest putting forth a 28-point demand. Their demands include implementation of the Social Security Act and increment of their salary. On March 24, the 11-point agreement on workers’ salary reached between there major trade unions and the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) had increased the minimum salary and daily wage of workers. They had also agreed to formulate a Social Security Act. The closure, during the peak harvest season, has affected 50 tea estates and 26 refining factories of the region. Several bilateral talks between workers and employers have been held, but to no avail. Monday’s talk also ended inconclusively.

Deepak Tamang, leader of a trade union affiliated to Nepali Congress, said they were flexible in 27 of their demands. “But we cannot compromise in the issue of social security,” he said. Agitating workers are projecting the Social Security Act as their major demand, saying that it would help eliminate the current disparity in the facility provided to tea workers and other industry workers. Bhupal Sapkota, a union leader aligned with UCPN-Maoist, said their main demand was a commitment from entrepreneurs to implement the Act. “Only the Act can end the disparity between tea workers and other industries workers.”

However, tea entrepreneurs expressed a different view. According to them, they are not in a position to afford an additional financial burden that would come along with the implementation of the Act. Naresh Barma, an industrialist, said they could not express their commitment for the implementation of the Act which is being formulated as per the agreement with FNCCI. “The situation of tea industries is different form other industries,” added Barma.

Agitating tea workers had first submitted their demand on January 28. After industrialists did not pay heed to their demands, they launched the protest on March 22. The closure of tea factories has also hit Ilam-based tea producers hard. According to producers, they are incurring huge losses every day, as they are not being able to sell their leaves to the factories. Around 18 tea factories of the region have remained closed. As a result, more than 18,000 farmers are facing huge losses. They are not being able harvest 100,000 kg of tea leaves per day.

Published on: 20 April 2011 | The Kathmandu Post