No End In Sight To Kerala Plantation Strike

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The indefinite strike by the 2.5-lakh workforce in the rubber and cardamom plantations in Kerala from Monday seeking a wage revision appears to remain unresolved. The Association of Planters of Kerala (APK) has clarified that any talks will be possible only after the strike is withdrawn though it was not averse to wage revision in the rubber sector.

Though the strike is not going to have an impact on the rubber production as the large estates account for just 15% of the total 7 lakh tonnes produced annually, cardamom production which is estimated to be around 11,000 tonnes annually may be affected, especially at a time when the season has just begun.

The workers went on a strike demanding wage revision after the agreement ended on March 31, 2002, even though no discussions were held in the matter earlier and not specific demand given by the unions, said an association spokesman. The association was not against wage revision and said that even when the state government and the labour ministry had appealed to the workers not to take the extreme step in the wake of the plantation labour committee meeting on Wednesday, the unions of all political hues went ahead with the agitation.

Earlier, the managements of the different estates had agreed to pay dearness allowance from October 2003 to the workers in the rubber sector which had started looking up after being in the dumps for quite a long time. They had also made it clear to the unions that they were not averse to a wage revision provided it was linked to a realistic productivity level, APK chairman A E Joseph said.