Tea Plantation Labour in India per the Plantation Act. A temporary women worker becomes eligible for maternity benefit if she has put in 80 days of service in the proceeding year as on the date of delivery. Workers complain that the management tries to evade this benefit by not giving continuous employment to a temporary women worker who is pregnant. However, the trade unions play a role in persuading the management to give employment to pregnant women, Trade Unions There are 23 trade unions in this region with varied political affiliations. Trade unions play a major role in recruitment of workers, ensuring that workers are provided the basic amenities, taking care of t}}e maternity benefits of the women workers, payment of Gratuity, ete. Whenever it becomes necessary to file a case against the management it is done by the trade union to which the worker is affiliated. Since most of the workers are illiterate, writing of representations to the managements is done by the trade union functionaries. They normally mediate between the management and the worker. Subscriptions to trade unions are recovered by the management from the salary of the workers in the months of June and July and passed on to the respective trade unions. A trade union becomes eligible for such benefit if the trade union has a total membership of more than 2000 workers or 15 per cent of the workers in that particular estate. Otherwise it is left to the discretion of the employers to decide whether the subseription should be recovered from the salary of the worker or not. Child Labour As far as Valparai is concerned, children are not employed in the plantations. There are adolescents who work in the estates and are paid as stipulated in the agreement. The employers insist on school certificates for proof of age or a doctor's certificate as an evidence of age. There are possibilities of manipulating this provision and employing children, but because of the active trade union movements and the strict implementation of the clause not to employ children by thelabour department there seem t6 be no children employed in the plantations in Valparai. Adolescents are normally engaged only in plucking green leaves and in weeding, 108 ­Tea Plantation Labour in Tamil Nadu Post-retirement Benefits Plantation workers retire at the age of sixty. A permanent worker on retirement is eligible for gratuity at therate of 15 days for one full year of completed permanent service the employee has put in the company. The gratuity is paid within three months of retirement. The workers depend on the trade unions in submitting relevant papers for the grant of gratuity and also to expedite the process of settlement. Provident Fund is paid alongwith the payment of gratuity. In ascertaining the amount contributed by the employee and the matching contribution of the employer the worker seeks the help of the{rade union. References Memorandum of Settlement under Section 18(1)of the Indian Disputes Act, 1947 arrived at Coimbatore, on 29 June 1993. Sivaraman, B, 1991,"Family welfare in plantation"; paper presented at the National Seminar on promoting family welfare programme in the organised sector, New Delhi. Tea Statistice- 1990-91. Tea Board of India, Calcuttg. 109