Collective Bargaing in
Tea Companies
Sharath Ghosh
Sayan Mukharjee
Rakesh Gakare
Sathya Prakkash VJ
Agenda
A brief on Collective Bargaining
A brief of Indian Tea Industry
Ducans Industries
Goodricke Group Ltd
Collective bargaining among Union and Tea
Companies
Objectives
Comparison with the west
A brief on Collective Bargaining
• Bargaining was in the stage of infancy
• It was not a very common method of regulating labor-
management relations in India
1920-1950
PLA Act. (1951)
• In this period actual emergence of bargaining was witnessed
• It was established as a method of settlement of industrial disputes
1951-1969 and determination of terms and conditions of employment
• Collective bargaining took a more general form
• It widened its scope from plant or enterprise level to the industry
1970 or the national level
onwards • During this period some new trends in CB also developed
A brief of Indian Tea Industry
172 years old
India accounts for 31% of global production
1692 registered manufacturers, 2200 tea exporters, 5548
registered buyers
9 tea auction centers (incl. 4 online exchanges)
India accounts for around 12-13% of world tea exports
Over 13,000 gardens, and a total workforce of over two
million people
Accounts for 0.8% of Indian exports with a turnover of
18000 crore
A brief of Indian Tea Industry
A brief of Indian Tea Industry
Labor force (28 lakh)
Male Female Adolescent
1%
48%
51%
Ducans Industries
Part of the Goenka family
Tea gardens encompass over 7500 hectares of
land spread over the Dooars, Terai and
Darjeeling regions of North Bengal
Implemented Quality Systems in line with ISO
9002 standards
One of the finest clonal gardens in the world.
Goodricke Group Ltd
Established tea gardens progressively in 1977
17 existing tea gardens of Goodricke Group
Ltd.
Covers 12 estates
Goodricke Group Ltd
The sterling companies are:
The Assam-Dooars Tea Co. Ltd The Chulsa Tea Co. Ltd.
Hope Tea Co. Ltd. The Leesh River Tea Co. Ltd.
The Lebong Tea Co. Ltd. The Danguajhar Tea Co. Ltd.
The British Darjeeling Tea Co. Ltd. The Meenglas Tea Co. Ltd
Companies Tea Estate (With Tea Factory) Location
Amgoorie India Ltd. 2 Darjeeling
Stewart Holl (India) Ltd. 4 Assam
Amgoorie India Ltd. 2 Assam
Koomber Tea Co. Pvt. Ltd. 2 Assam
Collective bargaining among
Union and Tea Companies
Union
2nd largest employer
State Government >2 million workers
Tea
Government Labor
Companies
CCPA (Umbrella Body)
Tea Board of India Assam
(Ministry of Commerce and
Industry, Govt of India) • Assam Cha Mazdoor Sangh (INC)
• Assam Sangrami Chah
Indian Tea Association
Shramik Sangh (CPI)
West Bengal
• All West Bengal Tea Garden Labourers
Regulatory
Union(CPI)
• Darjeeling District Chia Kaman Majdoor
Authority
Union (CPI)
PLA Act
Plantation Labor Act (1951)
Only Goodricke and Duncan provide 100%
housing, others involve in local bargaining
Cannot bargain on wage and ration
• Free Housing
1 meeting •in 3Ration
years for wage revision
• on
Main dispute efficiency of workers (output)
Medical
PLA Act
In case of any dispute meetings are held
If not solved in the first level the move to the
next level
PLA Act
Local Level - Bipartite Meeting between company and union
Tripartite Meeting mainly at Jalpaiguri – local worker union,
the tea garden union and company
Case forwarded to District Labor Commissioner
Case forwarded to Assistant Labor Commissioner
Case forwarded to court (rare occation)
Objectives
The Government’s policy so far has been to encourage collective
bargaining in a voluntary way
Whatever collective bargaining emerged initially has been mainly at the
plantation level
The varying sizes of the plantation and the consequent dissimilarities in
productiveness and technologies which do not permit uniform employment
conditions
The absence of homogenous labor market owing to lack of uniform skills and
pattern of training which does not promote free mobility of labor so that
uniform employment conditions could be evolved for the industry as a whole
The plantation union leadership which at present enjoys enormous powers and
faces prospects of political climb is reluctant to get integrated into an industry
wise union where its powers are likely to be restricted
Objectives
The Indian Government needs to adopt comprehensive
statutory measures with regards to collective bargaining
For an effective Collective Bargaining in India the following
measures are taken:
Recognition of trade union has to be determined through verification
of fee membership method. The union having more membership
should be recognized as the effective bargaining agent.
The State should enact suitable legislation providing for compulsory
recognition of trade union by employers.
State has to play a progressive role in removing the pitfalls which stand
in the way of mutual, amicable and voluntary settlement of labor
disputes.
Thank You
