Date:27/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/05/27/stories/2006052703840800.htm

Back Tea chest lifters withdraw strike

P.S. Sundar

Coonoor , May 26

Over 200 tea chest lifters in the Nilgiris who had entered into strike from May 11 demanding higher wages from transport owners have resumed their work.

This follows an agreement between the representatives of the tea chest lifters' union and the transport owners' body.

According to sources, the new wage would be Rs 62 a tonne against Rs 55 so far.

UNREASONABLE TERMS

Transport owners said there would have been no need for strike if they had come to such reasonable terms. They said the demand was for Rs 125 a tonne.

To face the problems arising from the blockade in the movement of the teas, the factory owners had started sending their teas to the warehouses in Coimbatore encouraged by the decision of the Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) to allow the auctioning of the teas here despite being warehoused in Coimbatore.

Nearly Rs 10 crore worth of teas had remained blocked in the warehouses during the strike.

Buyers had shown hesitation in fresh bids unless the bought-teas were moved to their respective destination and sold through retail outlets.

With the withdrawal of the strike, workers have begun loading and unloading the tea bags. Transport operators hoped that the movement would regain normalcy by Monday.