The victory of the epic struggle by thousands of women tea estate workers of the Kanan Devan Hill Plantations ltd (KDHP) of Munnar in Kerala for higher bonus and better wages has stunned the State's trade unions (TUs) and political parties, whom the women had deliberately and successfully kept out of their agitation.
As most of the trade unions struggled to come to terms with the fact that the victory of the women's struggle had proved that they were no more the indispensable agents for negotiating workers' rights, some trade union leaders, out of hurt pride, tried to malign the legendary strike by alleging involvement of 'mysterious' organisations.
On Sunday, the KDHP, controlled by Tata Tea for all practical purposes, was forced to meet the woman workers' demand for 20 percent bonus instead of the 10 percent bonus, which was announced by the company. Also, the striking women, mostly of Tamil origin, were assured that their other grievances, including age hike, would be addressed in a time-bound manner.
More than 6,000 women workers of the KDHP, mostly engaged in the job of tealeaf plucking, had carried out the agitation by laying siege to Munnar, one of Kerala's hottest tourist destinations, and the main roads around it, forcing suspension of trade, commercial, and tourism activities. Their victory came on the ninth day of the agitation.
"The trade unions, especially the communists, are missing the basic fact of this victory. What we saw in Munnar is that the traditional icon of Indian capitalism was forced to kneel before proletarian might. This doesn't happen often and in that sense, it is historic. But the communists have somehow failed to understand this," said senior journalist PVS Warrier.
There is strong presence of trade unions in the Munnar tea estates and AITUC, CITU, and the INTUC had represented workers' interests for the past several decades. However, the woman agitators forced them to keep away from the stir stating that they did not trust them and alleging that they had been betraying the workers all along and helping the company management. Understanding that they could not afford to deride the agitation or the agitators at this peculiar juncture, political parties, and trade unions declared solidarity with the striking women though they were not asked for it at any point of time. Still, some TU leaders were unprepared to admit that workers could hold successful stirs without their support or leadership.
It was perhaps out of this feeling that State CITU secretary, KP Sahadevan alleged involvement of behind-the-scene Tamil groups in the stir. "We had declared support for the agitation. But I must say that there was certain Tamil extremists' involvement in the strike," he said calling for an inquiry into the conduct of the agitation.
Foreseeing political backlash, State CITU president, Anathalavattom Anandan, and State CPI(M) secretary, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan rushed to reject Sahadevan's comment. "As the president of the CITU in the State, I state that we don't hold this opinion. The CITU is with the workers and we have made this absolutely clear earlier," Anandan said.
Kodiyeri said that responsible trade union leaders should not make misleading statements. Under growing pressure from his own union and party, Sahadevan withdrew his controversial statement. State's Congress Home Minister, Ramesh Chennithala confirmed there were no Tamil groups in the Munnar agitation even as workers protested against Sahadevan's comment.
At the same time, the women tea estate workers on Monday celebrated the victory of their struggle by once again filling the streets of Munnar town and exchanging pleasantries, and sweets.