LONG DRAWN STRIKE

The most important features of the wage struggle was that it was organised in the lean summer season when there was much less work and agricultural labourers were forced to accept scanty wages, especially the women labourers who were paid half of the actual minimum, i e Rs 20 only. Another important aspect was that the strike continued for a record 66 days after which the landlords had to give Rs 400 per labourer as ex-gratia payment and to face court cases for non-implementation of minimum wages. The strike became a battleground between the big landlords of the Congress, supported by the opportunist BJP, and the All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU), the red-flag union that led the strike.

As it is, there is clear-cut class differentiation in the northern part of Dhule district (now newly formed Nandurbar district) between the Adivasis (mainly landless, comprising nearly 65 per cent of the population) and the caste-Hindu landlords. The wage struggle was therefore very intense and long drawn.

After considerable discussion the union decided to first conduct the strike only in one village, namely Amlad in Talode taluk, and to extend it to other villages in the coming rainy season. All the labourers -- women, men, annual and monthly labourers, herdsman, watermen and Jaglyas (security persons) -- went on an indefinite strike on April 15 to demand arrears of wages for full one year. All the work was stopped, while the AIAWU's red flag fluttered at the bus stop on the highway, signalling that the strike was on. Earlier the AIAWAU activists went through the arduous work of preparing the lists of labourers, charts showing the names of the landlords and labourers who had worked for them, the actual wage given and the difference between that and the minimum wage, the total days of work, and the amount of arrears to be recovered from each landlord. The total came to a staggering figure of more than Rs 15 lakh.

ORGANISED STRENGTH

There were enthusiastic meetings. The organised strength of the labourers compelled the labour officers to accept that the arrears were according to the revised minimum wage act and that the amount would have to be paid. The adamant landlords, being local Congress and BJP leaders, contacted their boss P K Patil, the notorious sugar-baron of Shahade, who had planned a private army to suppress the Shramik Sanghetane struggle in 1972. The landlords decided that the red flag should not be allowed to win at any cost. Hence the intensification of the struggle.

All the two thousand labourers in Amlad village went on strike on April 13, paralysing the entire work of irrigating sugarcane and banana plantation fields, harvesting wheat and groundnut, and other daily routine jobs at the very time of the festival of Akshay Tritiya, when new-year cultivation begins. The landlords were not ready to settle accounts of the annual and monthly labourers according to the revised minimum wages. Their pretension was that they did not know the government rule; therefore, they were not liable to pay the arrears.

The labour officers had to publicly declare the rules and regulations under pressure of the labourers' militant morcha at the tehsil office. When the landlords refused to pay the arrears, the union demanded that:

(1) The arrears since May 1, 1998 must be paid to the annual, monthly and daily labourers,

(2) In case the landlords fail to pay the arrears, the labour department must file cases against the erring landlords in the labour court,

(3) The revised minimum wage of Rs 37 must be implemented immediately.

LANDLORDS ARRESTED FOR THE FIRST TIME

The strike assumed a political colour due to the involvement of the Congress and BJP leaderships. The entire Adivasi belt of Nandurbar district was divided into the supporters and opponents of the strike. The AIAWU took the issue to the neighbouring taluks where the agricultural labourers, poor peasants, organised workers and middle class sympathisers supported the strike by collecting jowar-bhakaris (rotis), grain and money, whereas the landlords lobby tried hard to break the strike. The Congress and the BJP came to their help readily, declaring that non-labourers who were milkmen instigated the strike and that the CPI (M) is forcing the poor landless labourers to starvation.

The government machinery had had to intervene as the tensions escalated due to the adamant behaviour of the landlords. The union conducted demonstrations and public meetings and made representations before the labour officers, but the landlords were always absent. Instead, they brought combine harvesters, and also the riflemen of the state reserve police to crush the strike. The valiant women and youth cadres fought them back. False cases of riots and theft were registered against the union activists and labourers. These repressive tactics were strongly protested against. For the first time, the landlords of this village were arrested under the atrocities (against tribals) act.

Finally, the labour commissioner agreed to prosecute the landlords for violation of the minimum wages act. The landlords were ready to pay the revised minimum wages henceforth and offered Rs 3.20 lakh lump sum as ex-gratia. The strike was called off on June 18. Now the cases will continue for the arrears due, amounting to Rs 13 lakh.