Tea Plantation Labour in India Worlers who spray pesticide get an overcoat, and when it is worn out it is replaced. The pluckers get a synthetic sheet to cover the lower part of the body while plucking leaves, Each family of the permanent worker gets a quarter kilogramme of tea dust per month at the cost of production rate from the management, Previously, in all plantations a small amount of land was allotted to each family to maintain a kitchen garden. Later, when the managements increased the extent of the plantations, these kitchen garderlls-were converted into tea gardens. But the plantation still malkes aprovision for this. According to the Plantation Labour Act, each family should be given two cents of land to maintain a kitehen gardeh. When tIr‘le plantations were owned by the British, in each plantation asmall dairy was maintained to meet the requirements of milk for the creche. A permanent worker was employed to look after the cattle. But now each worker family is allowed to own a cow with the permission of the I.nanagement. Ifthe cow strays into the tea garden the management pun.lshezs the owwer by levying afme which ranges from Rs. 25 to Rs. 50 in dlffe-rent­plantations. But rearing cattle in the plantation is a rare practice; in some of the plantations it is strictly prohibited. Recruitment %\Icrmally the dropouts at high school and higher secondary level, and In some cases after the completion of the school, go to. work in the plantations ag temporary workers. These temporary workers become E}frnl].anent workers after a period of time. The management collects e 1st of temporary workers to be made permanent from the trade unions. Ir.x some of the plantations the different trade unions get together afld firllahse the. list; ir'x other cases, each unit of a.different trade union 5:::1: its own list. This list is prepared on the basis of seniority and cxperience of the temporary workers. In rare cases no specifie mode s followed to make a worker permanent. The management decides as to who is to be made a permanent employee. The attendance register of.the tem porary workersis destroyed every . ­weekend; no evidence exists to clai m seniorit; i ) ' uni i form complain . t; of workers in all p] y and experience. The antations is the reduction of labour 20 Tea Plantation Labour in Tamil Nadu strength. It has been roughly estimated by the workers that during the last decade the strength has been reduced by 50 per cent. According to Tea Statistics (1990-91), the number of workers have been reduced from 68,259 in 1988 to 39,338 in 1990 (inclusive of all permanent and temporary employees, who are living in the labour lines of the plantations and who live outside but workin the plantations). Vacancies are not filled up according to the number of retirements. The busy season begins in April and lasts for four to five months. So every year the management recruits permanent employees during the end of February or the beginning of March. But in almost all the plantations there is a tendency to delay recruitment for one or two months, manage with the available temporary workforce, increase the working hours, and make them work on Sundays. In some plantations 1o new recruitments have been made for the last two or three years. The existence of settlements of Sri Lankan repatriates near some of the plantations help the management to get temporary workers regularly, This enables the management to either postpone and reduce the number of new recruits or to skip it for a year or two. In some plantations in Gudalur taluk tea and coffee are grown side by side and the workers of these plantations are busy round the year. When the busy period of tea is over, the coffee plucking picks up momentum and once it is over the busy season for tea starts. This situation provides job guarantee to the workers for the whole year. Taking advantage of this the managements keep the workers temporary for long periods. Work Allotment and Hours of Work Every day, after the day’s job is over, the workers assemble at the muster room before going home, to find out the assignment for the next day, allotment of the V-J rk spot and the specific 'gang' (for plucking each 'gang' consists of 50 to(lOO women, and in the case of men workers for specific group activity like pruning, 10 will form a 'gang') for the next day. Both men and women go to the plantation and start work at 7.30 AM. There is a break between 12.80 to 1,30 PM for lunch and to weigh the leaves collected since morning. Again work starts at 1.30 PM and continues till 4.30 PM, after which the pluckers take the leaves for N