GUWAHATI, June 15 - The State government has asked the tea industry to give an interim wage hike as relief to workers till the time the minimum wages are finalized.
Official sources told The Assam Tribune that the decision was taken last evening at a meeting, which was attended by representatives of the Labour Department, workers' unions and garden managements.
The garden managements will have to pay the interim wage hike with effect from April 1 this year, while the quantum of hike will be finalised by the government soon, the sources said.
The Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations � an umbrella body of tea garden managements � submitted a representation to the government, which will be studied by an expert committee before the minimum wages are finalised, sources said.
The government had earlier said the daily wages of tea workers in Brahmaputra and Barak Valleys would be same from now on. As of now, workers in Brahmaputra Valley are entitled to a daily wage of Rs 137, while those of Barak Valley get Rs 115 along with an �attendance allowance�.
The three-year wage agreement, signed between the Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations and the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha, had expired last December.
The BJP government in the State had said that from now on the minimum wages will not be fixed through a bilateral agreement between the workers� representatives and the managements, as was the practice so far. The government has instead formed a committee to revise the minimum wages.
There are around 12.5 lakh tea workers in both the valleys.
