2015 Munnar Plantation strike

July 2016 June 2022 June 2022 The Munnar Plantation strike was a nine-day strike led by the women of the Munnar Kannan Devan Hills Plantations Limited (KDHPL). It was famous for it being an all-women uprising leading to the formation of an all-women union Pengal Orumai (women's unity) and is referred to as a turning point in Kerala's political history.Levy Shoshana 2017-04-01 Munnar Plantation Strike, 2015: a Case Study of Keralan Female Tea Workers' Fight for Justice https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/2624 Independent Study Project (ISP) CollectionKamath Rajalaxmi Ramanathan Smita 2017-04-03 Women tea plantation workers' strike in Munnar, Kerala: lessons for trade unions in contemporary India https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2017.1298292 Critical Asian Studies 49 2 244–256 10.1080/14672715.2017.1298292 157740663 1467-2715 subscriptionMunnar Tea Plantation Workers End Nine-Day Strike https://www.ndtv.com/kerala-news/munnar-tea-plantation-workers-end-nine-day-strike-1217186 2021-08-01 NDTV.com Introduction The salary of plantation workers in the state is decided by the Plantation Labour Committee. PLC comprises representatives of trade unions, plantation managements, and the government. PLC meeting and discussion is possible only if the labour minister takes the initiative. The strike began on 6 September with about 5000 workers, the majority being women, agitating in front of the KDHPL office after the management struck down the bonus to ten percent, which was 20 percent the previous year, citing dips in profit and falling tea prices – this despite the daily wage being a mere Rs 234 for 12 hours of labour and the fact that the daily output per worker had increased to 31 kilograms from 21. The main demands of the workers was a hike in wages from Rs.232 to Rs.500.http://causebecause.com/news-detail.php?NewsID=734 A tale of two tea gardens 22 October 2015 causebecause.com 2016-06-01 One of the most important facts about this strike, is that the agitation was led and organised by the women workers who steadfastly refused to allow men into it, citing reasons such as that they were easily swayed by alcohol and that it was the women who did the actual work of plucking leaves and carrying and loading the burden, which comes with greater occupational hazards such as knee damage and pesticide inhalation. The country's biggest trade unions such as AITUC (CPI), INTUC (Congress) and CITU (CPM) were forbidden from co-opting the movement, even though at one time they tried to barge into their protest because according to the workers, they had done precious little to improve their conditions and instead preferred to cosy up to the management. A controversy was started a spark happened between Pembilai Orumai and Mm mani in April 2017 Pembilai Orumai Negotiations The government eventually intervened, and conducted negotiations with the striking workers led by the all-women union, Pembilai Orumai. They were given front seats at the negotiations led by the Chief Minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy, and the Labour Minister Shibu Baby John, and on 13 September, their demands were finally met.https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/learning-lessons-the-hard-way/article7650564.ece Learning lessons the hard way The Hindu 14 September 2015 2022-06-11 Aftermath Similar strikes were soon called by women workers at other places including Harrisons Malayalam Ltd's tea estates in Idukki and Wayanad districts, where 500 women workers went on strike and over 11,000 workers of TATA Tea resorted to ‘go slow’ plucking in peak plucking season, one of the slogans being ‘we pluck tea leaves, you pluck our lives.' References Category:Labour disputes in India Category:Controversies surrounding the Tata Group