Tea Plantation Labour in India wages mentioned above relate to their time rate. In addition, workers engaged in plucking are given an incentive wage for plucking above the fixed daily quota. This enhances the total wage. The incentive wage in West Bengal was Re 0.32 per kg. and in Assam it was Re 0.27 paise per kg. In Tamil Nadu the incentive wage varied with the amount of leaves plucked. The minimum quota was fixed at 14 kg. for plantations producing less than 1600 kg. of tea per annum and 16 kg. for those producing more than that amount of tea. The incentive rate is in slabs, according to the leaves plucked. For example, a worker plucking between ?.7 and 35 kg. when the minimum queta was 16 kg. would be paid an incentive rate of Re 0.27 per kg. Ifhe plucked above 35 kg. the incentive was increased to Re 0.35 per kg. In West Bengal and Assam the minimuin load is not uniform as it is fixed by the management of each plantation. Moreover, the quota increases during the peak season(June to September) and decreases from November onwards when the quantity of lefwes decline. The minimum load is never below 21 kg. and could be as high as 80 kg. in some plantations. The incentive wage does increase the total income of the plantation Worke.r to some extent. This is more so in the case of Tamil Nadu as there is more or less stable production throughout the year. In Assam and West Bengal the scope for incentive wages increases during the peak season but declines thereafter. Besides, the plantations in these two States do not have any preduction during three months in winter as buspes are pruned then. Hence taking into account these factors the Incentive wage does not add much to the existing low wages, Moreover, all workers are not engaged in plucking of tea leaves. At an average Ol.fly half the workers are engaged in this activity and the others are glven f)ther agricultural tasks, It is only during the peak season that a majority of workers are engaged in plucking, For around five months ;{t;;tiihe nine-month plucking period the yield is average and there is 1ttle scope for the worker to earn the incentive wage. Trade Unions The rule R t e h p e or w t or o k f er th s e R v e ge Commissi ion mentioi ns that durii ng the coloniai l ere unorganised and helpless. It also noted that ‘formation of s trade : unions could \ help ease the workers’ prob prob l lems ems but tfi:l;?:niventlllahty seemed unlikely because of the stiffresistance from ers. In fact though the_'tea industry started in Assam in its 12 Introduction reorganised form in the 1860s, in Darjeeling and Tamil Nadu in the 1860s and in Jalpaiguri in the 1870s, the trade unions appeared much later. At the time of independence in 1947 there were no unions to speak of. As the plantations wereisolated and the planters had complete control over their workers, it was difficult for union organisers to enter these areas. It was only after independence that trade unions could enter the plantations,In other words, for seventy or eighty years of its existence this industry, employing over a million workers, was unfamiliar with the methods of collective bargaining, After independence, especially since the 1950s, trade unions started organising workers and got an overwhelming response from them. An earlier study conducted by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in 1992 on unionisation and employment showed that almost all tea plantation workers in West Bengal were members of unions. In Assam too trade unions are widespread. The main difference between the two States is that West Bengal has a large number of unions while the INTUC affiliated unions dominate among the workers in Assam. In West Bengal, half the workers in Jalpaiguri and the plains of Darjeeling are members of the CITU while the INTUC comes next with approximately 30 per cent membership followed by the UTUC. The rest of the workers are members of a wide assortment of trade unions, In Tamil Nadu the independent unions are more popular though the HMS too has a good following. The workers by and large are aware of the benefits of unionisation and that is why one will rarely come across a plantation where workers are not unionised. We have found that even when a particular union does not fully sexve the interests of its members, the workers are reluctant to let go because they realise that a bad unton is still better than no union. References Bhowmik, Sharit, 1981, Class Formation in the Plantation System, Delhi, People’s Publishing House. Davala, Sarath(ed.), 1992, Employment and Unionisation in Indian Industry, Delhi, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. .13