Question : Tea Garden Workers

(a)whether the Government is aware of the fact that labourers, who work day and night to provide the best Tea products to the country, are living miserable lives in Assam tea garden areas, deprived of proper healthcare facility, proper shelter to live in and educational facility for their children;
(b)if so, the steps taken by the Government to provide them with healthy lives;
(c)whether it is a fact that these workers are paid very less wage by the companies and tea garden owners;
(d)if so, whether the Government has made/will make policy for making a proper payment compulsory to these workers;
(e)if so, the details thereof; and
(f)if not, the reasons therefor?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
(SHRI RAMESWAR TELI)

(a) & (b): The Plantations Labour (PL) Act, 1951 provides for the safety, health and welfare of labour and regulates the conditions of work in plantations. The Act provides the workers with reasonable amenities such as housing, medical facilities, sickness and maternity benefits and other forms of social security measures. There are provisions for educational facility for the worker’s children, drinking water, sufficient number of laterines and urinals separately for males and females, canteens, crèches and recreational facilities for the
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benefit of the tea plantation workers and their families in and around the work places. The Act also provides for hours and limitation of employment regulating the working hours of workers employed in the plantations in the tea estates. The PL Act is implemented through the concerned State Governments.

The workers of the tea industry are also covered by various industrial and social security legislations like Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923, Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, (Assam Tea Plantation Provident Fund, Pension Fund and Deposit Link Insurance Fund Scheme Act 1955 – only for Assam), Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, Payment of Wages Act, 1936, Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the Factories Act and Industrial Employment (Standing Order) Act, 1946.

The Tea Board also supports and extends various welfare measures for the welfare of tea workers and their wards/dependants. The labour welfare measures are undertaken under the overall “Tea Development & Promotion Scheme’’. This aims at achieving improvements in the life and living conditions of the Tea Plantation workers and their dependents under the three broad areas viz.

(i) Improving the health and hygiene of workers and their dependants;
(ii) Education of wards of workers
(iii) Training to the wards/dependants on workers.

The Tea Board has disbursed Rs. 3.07 crores for Assam tea gardens under this Scheme for the benefit of the workers and their wards/dependents from 2017-18 to 30.11.2021.
(c) to (f): The fixation of minimum wages for tea garden workers falls under the purview of State Governments which are the appropriate Government to fix/revise the minimum wages as per the provisions under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.

The wages for workers, and staff employed in tea estates are fixed through a process of collective bargaining held between the Management and the workers’ Unions. In case of Assam, the negotiations are concluded at a Bi-partite level and thereafter the agreement is sent to the State Government. The same is examined by the State Government and notified thereafter.

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