Unions call for strike in Darjeeling tea estates on Oct 4

All seven trade unions of about 87 tea estates of Darjeeling in West Bengal have called for a 12-hour strike on Friday after the failure in talks between leaders of unions and the managements of gardens over the bonus issue. The unions have given a "bandh call" from 6 am to 6 pm on October 4, a trade union leader said.

Darjeeling Indian Tea Association (DITA) secretary Mohan Chettri said that the unions had been demanding a bonus of 20 per cent. "However, we have offered 12 per cent", Chettri said.

He said that there is a meeting between the unions and the managements of tea estates on October 17, where the issue would be finalised. To a query, he said that the estimated crop loss for the proposed strike cannot be estimated at the moment as it will vary across gardens..