Trade unions strike back, rebels join in
A source in KDHP confirmed that the strike was near total
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-09-29 01:47 GMT
Kochi: It’s not yet time to sing the requiem for Ponpilai Orumai, but the women workers’ movement which successfully organised a strike demanding higher bonus in Kanan Devan Hills Plantations (KDHP) company earlier this month received a major setback on Monday with most workers in the plantation sector defying the movement’s decision not to join an indefinite strike.
Workers across plantations chose to stand with recognised trade unions and strike work, demanding that the daily wages be raised to Rs 500 from the present Rs 232.
Ponpilai Orumai had decided not to join the strike and wait for the outcome of the statutory Plantation Labour Committee discussions scheduled for Tuesday instead.
The deft management by the trade union leadership pushing women to the leadership and a door-to-door campaign worked to the benefit of the trade unions, whose credibility was at stake after Ponpilai Orumai struck at their roots.
“Today’s strike was a huge success and only 360 of the 10,211 workers of KDHP reported for duty against our call,” said P. Muthupandy, Idukki district president of AITUC.
“Three of the five women leaders who represented Ponpilai Orumai in talks also joined the strike. By tomorrow, we expect only a handful of them to go for duty,” he said.
A source in KDHP confirmed that the strike was near total. A spokesperson of the Association of Planters of Kerala said the strike was total in Vandiperiyar, Peermed, Wayanad and Kollam. “Workers in rubber plantations also struck work,” he said.
The workers who stunned trade unions by coming under the Ponpilai Orumai banner two weeks ago now appeared to have deserted the new formation as the trade unions started taking swift damage control measures. AITUC, the largest union in the plantation sector in Idukki, has started picking women leaders at unit levels.
“We have now decided to make half of the representatives from the units to be women,” said Mr Muthupandi.
“We had only 37 women in the 156- member representatives’ council. Of them, only 20 were workers. In the next meeting, called on October 4, half the representatives will be women,” he said.
INTUC has also taken a decision to increase women’s representation, Mr D. Kumar, vice-president of the South Indian Plantations Workers’ union, affiliated to INTUC, said.