Kochi: Thousands of women tea plantation workers on strike in Munnar have refused to budge from their demand for better remuneration even as another Kerala legislator felt their wrath on Saturday.
About 4,000 to 7,000 women workers of the Kanan Devan Hills Plantation company are on strike with multiple demands, including payment of a bonus of 20 per cent. Their strike is unique in that they are not letting traditional trade unions or even their male colleagues to be negotiators in their talks with the management regarding their demands.
Communist Party of India Marxist MP, P. K. Sreemathy and party leaders K.K. Shailaja and M.C. Josephine who tried on Saturday to intervene in the strike on behalf of the workers were spurned by the striking women.
On Friday, CPM MLA, S. Rajendran who went to offer his help in resolving the workers’ issues was chased away by the protesters. The workers insist that trade union leaders have for decades been cheating them by colluding with the management. They also refuse to allow their male colleagues to intervene, saying the men as easy prey for bribes.
The development is particularly worrisome for the CPM considering that plantation workers have traditionally been supporting Left trade unions. In that context, the snub received by senior women leaders of the CPM is a matter of concern for the party.
CPM state secretary, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said on Saturday that his party had always been with the workers and demanded that the striking workers be paid bonus as well as five cents of land each.
