Himalayan Times (1955)

July 17, 1955

IStntnlngaii ilim*»

Three

STRIKE IN THE DARJEEL1NG HILL
GARDENS AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES
IN WHICH IT WAS WITHDRAWN

Darjeeling, July 12.

On the 22nd June,
1955, the workers of a
number of Darjeeling hill
gardens went on a strike
over certain demands. Be-
fore the strike, the leaders
of Darjeeling Chiya Kaman
Sramik Sangha and the
Darjeeling Chiya Kaman
Mazdoor Union, who spon-
sored it, were told that the
strike would be illegal, as
another dispute over Pujah
bonus and cloth bonus for
Darjeeling hill gardens was
pending before a Tribunal.
They were also advised to
desist from it as the ques-
tion of revision of Standing
Orders had been taken up
for conciliation and the
question of futher revision
of minimum wages would
be discussed by the Mini-
mum Wages Advisory Com-
mittee in September this
year. The unions did not
listen to the advice.

When the strike had
entered the sixth day, the
union leaders and the lead-
ing citizens of Darjeeling
town met the,Deputy Com-
missioner, Darjeeling, and
the Deputy Labour Minister
and offered their co-opera-
tion for ending the strike.

After a discussion on the
strike situation and the
demands of the workers
on the 27th and 28th June
the union leaders agreed to
call off the strike and signed
a notice calling off the strike
and asking the workers to
resume work in the gardens
peacefully. The unions were
- (old that the Minimum
Wages Committee would be
called by Government in
July. I9SS. 10 consider
fixation of minimum wages
for tea garden labour in the
hills, that the question of
bonus would be taken up
for conciiation and that the
question of amendment of
Standing Orders had already
been taken up for concilia-
tion, ( .

The * Deputy Commi-
ssioner informed them that
the persons, who had been
arrested under the West
Bengal Security Act before
the commencement of the
strike, would be released
from custody after resump-
tion of work in the gardens
in pursuance of the unions'
decision to ca'I off the strike.
[Home ( Publicity ) Depart-
ment, Goverment of West
Bengal.]

Our Darjeeling Repre-
sntative adds:

Following the with-
drawl of the warrants of
arrest against the Union
leaders Shri Ratanlal
Brahmin and Shri Deo-
prakash Rai a conference
was held at the Old Secre-
tariat Building Darjeeling
with Deputy Minister
Labour, Deputy Commi-
ssioner and the following
members:

Dr. S. Chatterje; Shri
H. D. Lama, Shri T.
Manaen, Shri G. C. Subba,
Shri N.B. Singh,Shri R S-
Prasad, Shri S. N. Mazum-
dar, Shri P. T. Lama, Shri
Lakpa Tshering Sherpa &
Shri N. D. Rai. The Union
leaders and the Assistant
Labour Commissioner and.
the Labour Officer, were
also present during the
meetings.

The Union Leaders,
Shri Ratanlal Brahmin
and Shri Deoprakash Rai
put the following five
point demand jointly as
condition precedent to the
calling off of the strike. It
may be recalled that the
Unions had gone on strike
with fourteen-point joint'
demands.

The five point' de-
mands were: .

1) Wages, should be
raised if not to Rs.. 1/11/6
originally demanded by
them at least to Rx. 1/7/6
per day, which would be
accepteable to them.

2) The principle .of
profit bonus should be

(Continued on page 11)