Kerala: Cashew unions plan joint fight

KOLLAM: Trade unions will form a joint protest council against what they describe as anti-labour policies of the Union government hitting the cashew industry. The council will demand government intervention to regulate the import of processed cashew from Vietnam and rollbacking the tax on value-added products. “The cashew industry that plays a major role in earning foreign currency is now facing an acute crisis,” Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation chairman S. Jaya-mohan said. 

“The import duty which adversely affects the industry has, in turn, resulted in the tax hike of value-added cashew products. The federal policy to permit seamless imports from Vietnam is another case.” The Union government amending labour rules and ESI norms has put destitute employees at the receiving end by denying them treatment facilities and pension. The authorised trade unions including CITU, AITUC, UTUC, and INTUC will join hands in protest. 

Meanwhile, 30 factories under the KSCDC remain closed for the past several weeks for the scarcity of raw cashew kernels.  The KSCDC could procure only 20 tonnes from the state-owned plantations, based on its proposal to promote indigenous cashew. Kerala Cashew Board, the financial vehicle formed to revitalise the sector, could not yet enter into a deal with South African countries for the purchase of raw cashew kernels.  The proposal was that the government would enter into a deal for a fair trade facilitating import of raw cashew kernels avoiding intermediaries.  Kerala had earlier met delegates from Tanzania, Ivory Coast, and Mozambique, as the state requires nearly 10 lakh metric tonne to keep its factories running.