Buoyant Industry But Future Uncertain for Jute Workers Across Major Mills in West Bengal

Kolkata: “Here PF (provident fund) is a right of workers only on paper. Most mill owners use the PF dues of the average mill workers and even if workers demand their PF and retirement benefits, the owners declare lockouts. Only a worker knows the pangs of lockout, that too when the industry is buoyant,” said Munna Singh, a leader of the Bengal Chatkal Majdoor Union (BCMU) leader and councillor of Titagarh 1 ward in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. He was referring to the ongoing strife in the three big jute mills in the North 24 Parganas, on which nearly 50,000 people are directly dependent for livelihood.

Anadi Sahoo, general secretary of BCMU, told NewsClick, “The jute industry is perhaps the only industry where demand is on upswing even amid one of the worst economic slumps in the country. However, the Reliance Jute Mill in Kakinada, Waverly Jute Mill in Shyamnagar and Emco Sunbeam Jute Mill in Titagarh remain closed due to mismanagement by the jute mills.”

Workers’ PF = Liquid money for mill owners

Sahoo pointed out an "interesting way of hoarding" by the mill owners. He said that the PF dues sum up as liquid money for the mill owners, who, by evading the pending dues, invest these in other industries run by them. They also use it to run day-to-day operations of the mill. “In some of the mills, PF dues and retirement benefits are forgone if workers want to be on regular payroll,” he added.

Also read: West Bengal Jute Workers Demand Immediate Reopening of Mills

It should be noted that nearly the entire demand for jute products is from the Central and various state governments. Further, the value of jute as an organic material has reached an all-time high in the present year. The demand for jute bags and other products like carpets have raised the value of the jute bales.

 “For example, the owner of a jute mill has investment in six different sectors including films and gas. However, it is the jute mill which is in lockout stage, at a time when there is an increasing demand for jute as an environment friendly fibre in the national and international markets" he said.

ESI, Gratuity Funds Pending

In the case of Waverly Jute Mill, the owner has withheld PF dues that run into hundreds of crores. Overall, the four jute mills in Bengal have pending dues of over Rs 500 crore owed to workers. Each of these mills have been closed allegedly due to wrong policies of the management, like in the case of Titatgarh’s EMCO jute mill, where they could not arrange raw materials as they reportedly failed to pay the suppliers after procurement. Meanwhile, in the case of Kakinada’s Reliance mill, PF dues and gratuity being withheld are the root causes for its closure.

BCMU leader Ashnarayan Singh told NewsClick that in Kakinada’s Reliance Jute Mill, in order to evade paying the retirement dues, the management imposed a lockout. He said, “Out of 4,190 workers of the jute mill, 2,807 are casual badli category workers (with PF and ESI) and only 288 are permanent. There 447 special badli workers, 375 contractual workers, 200 post superannuation workers and 73 agency workers. The mill, before its lockout, had production capacity of 90 tonnes per month. However, the lockout was announced unilaterally on the pretext that the labourers had demanded their PF dues and approached the District Labour Officer for their legitimate demand.”

In the case of Waverly Jute Mill, BCMU leader RP Kundu said the management closed down the mill as they failed to arrange raw jute. Prior to that, the mill had production capacity of 65 tonnes. He added that only 20% of the 3,500 workers are permanent, the rest are casual or of non-permanent. It is the same in EMCO mill, too, where most of the 3,500 workers are non-permanent and only around 20% workers are permanent.

During the paddy reaping season, the employment records vary, as many workers travel to their native places. In place of the permanent employees, the mills employ zero number badli workers till they return to work, Kundu added.

Meanwhile, in South 24 Parganas district, the New Central Jute Mill, which provided employment to nearly 4,500 workers, was closed as the state government stopped providing funds to run the mill, alleged former MP Shamik Lahiri, adding that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has demanded immediate reopening of the jute mill and payment of PF, ex-gratia and all other dues to workers.

Interestingly, another jute mill located nearby, known as Buj Buj jute mill, is running satisfactorily.

Jute Production and What Lays Ahead

Jute is grown in vast areas of the state covering South and North Bengal. While the net production of jute has decreased marginally from 8,623 thousand tonnes in 2011-12 to 7,770 thousand tonnes in 2018-19, the demand for jute has increased manifold.

In the absence of an effective role by the Jute Corporation of India (JCI), the price of raw jute earned by farmers is hardly ever equivalent to the MSP in open market. The huge credit period and the connections of the jute mill owners in case of direct purchase from farmers make the jute farmers incapable of bargaining.

Also read: COVID-19: Jute Growers Make a Tidy Sum While Mill Workers Suffer in Bengal

The jute mills now work on seasonal capacity and unlike the earlier permanent arrangement, seasonal employment arrangements have been bolstered with the introduction of cheap and new high capacity machines (called China machines internally) to reduce workmen ratio.  Yet, there are more than 150 mills on both sides of river Hooghly, and barring some which maintain regular wage hours, most of these mills work in  seasonal arrangement, as per allegations made by major trade unions working in the jute mill sector.

Most of the mill workers hail from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. While the mills had closed down citing the lockdown, these have not restarted employment on full capacity even though a number of mills are working in three shifts due to high demand. With this, the workmen colonies are filled with workers burdened with uncertainties about their future.

While the demand for jute continues to grow and the mill owners rush to make the most of it, the bottom rung of the industry, consisting of mill workers and jute farmers, struggle to earn their livelihood due to the government and mill owners' "apathetic" attitude.