Here’s why politicians and union leaders fear the fiery female workers of Munnar plantations

That which is happening in the plantations in Munnar for the past few weeks should make politicians and trade union leaders sit up and think. Hitherto, workers were at the mercy of trade unions to redress their grievances with the management. Slowly, they realised that the trade union leaders were actually conniving with the management to deny them their rightful entitlements and were pocketing money and other benefits from the management.

Pushed to the wall, the female workers of the plantations have now taken the plunge to lead the agitation by themselves, keeping union leaders and politicians at bay.

Early in September, over 5,000 women plantation workers of Kannan Devan Hills Plantations, Munnar, went on strike demanding 20 % bonus and higher wages at Rs 500 a day. They virtually held Munnar town to ransom by squatting on Munnar’s streets along with their family members, obstructing traffic and tourist flow.

Such was the fury of the striking women workers that they chased away union leaders and politicians barring Leader of the Opposition V S Achuthanandan too. It was a stern reminder to the politicians and union leaders that they have lost touch with the workers and abjectly failed to address their genuine concerns.

“While the trade union leaders lead a luxurious life, we struggle hard to make ends meet. What we get for the hard labour is Rs 230 per day. This is less than half of what a daily wage labourer gets in Kerala today. This is not sufficient to meet even our food requirements. The trade union leaders live in bungalows allotted by the company, while we live in huts without toilets and other basic amenities,” blared out the angry women workers.

Nine days and several rounds of talks didn’t provide a breakthrough. Finally, the company relented on the bonus issue after the intervention by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Management also agreed to leave the wage hike issue to the Plantation Labour Committee.

But the partial success of the agitation in the Kannan Devan company had a chain reaction in other plantations. The workers of plantations such as Harrisons Malayalam Ltd., Travancore Rubber and Tea Estate, Riya Estate, B.B. Estate, AVT Estate, and Good Hope Estate and public sector plantations like Rehabilitation Plantations Ltd., Kerala State Farming Corporation, and Oil Palm India Ltd. too went on a snap strike demanding higher bonus and wages.

In fact, the entire plantation sector in Kerala is now at a standstill in the wake of the agitation. The first meeting of the Plantation Labour Committee held on Wednesday could not solve the issues.

The agitation took a violent turn on Wednesday while the women workers and union activists were holding agitations at separate venues in Munnar. The union workers allegedly pelted stones at the women workers, leaving some policemen and media persons also injured.

The agitation now threatens to get out of hands. The management is unrelenting in their stand that they can hardly afford to hike the wages in view of the steep fall in prices of commodities and rise in cost of inputs. The plantation companies have warned that efforts to corner more benefits for workers without considering the fragile financial conditions of the plantation industry would lead to the collapse of the industry.

The workers, on the other hand, say they can hardly subsist with the existing wages. The Government finds it difficult to balance the interests of management and workers.

The present crisis in the plantation sector is partly the making of the Government itself. While pressurising the management of Kannan Devan company to concede the demand of the women workers for 20% bonus, the Government should have anticipated similar demands from workers of other plantations. Now the Government is hoisted by its own petard.

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