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CHAPTER XXI, 
uniformity in the matter of wages and to prevent one employer from pay- 
ing substantially higher wages than his neighbour. The “wage agree- 
ments * are effected through district or circle committees which fix the 
level of wages for each area or district. Owing to differences in the 
character of the soil and in the nature of the work from garden to garden, 
it is not feasible to fix standard piece rates, but it has generally been pos- 
sible for the district committees to ensure that the amount which can be 
earned in an hour by the worker of average capacity for each class of work 
is more or less uniform throughout the district. Each planter fixes his 
own piece rates but, in so doing, regard is paid to the agreement arrived 
at by the Committee in order that the wages of his employees may not be 
appreciably higher than the agreed level. There is thus none of the 
attraction of higher wages to tempt the worker to transfer his services from 
one garden to another. On principle there can be no more objection to 
the ““ wage agreements > than to the “ labour rules ’ of the Indian Tea 
Association, but we would again point out that the workers suffer owing 
to the absence of any organisation on their side to counteract the 
powerful combination of their employers. 
Importance of Cash Wage. 
It has been pointed out that the popularity of a tea garden 
in Assam does not always depend on high earnings, and that several 
factors, e.g., the system of wage payment, the employment of women 
and children almost to the same extent as men, the amount of rice land 
available for private cultivation by the workers and other concessions, 
have to be taken into account in considering the actual level of cash 
wages. It would not, therefore, be correct to assume that a garden 
worker in Assam is financially in a worse position than a worker in other 
industries, merely because his earnings are lower. We must not, however, 
be understood to be minimising the importance of the cash wage. Labour 
has to be imported from distant areas, and wages are the main factor 
influencing migration. It is not enough for an intending recruit to be 
told that he will be better off in Assam. He naturally desires to have 
some indication of the monetary return he may expect for his labour. 
With the increasing competition from other industries, the tea industry 
has experienced difficulties in securing an adequate supply of labour. 
The importance of an attractive wage has, indeed, been realised by the 
industry, whose consistent policy, at any rate since the troubles of 
1921-22, has been to assist the garden worker as far as possible to 
increase his earnings. The elasticity of the system of wage payment 
enables the worker who has not yet been able to obtain rice land to 
secure increased earnings by longer hours of work, and we were shown 
instances of workers whose monthly earnings were considerably higher 
than the average. We were informed that normally there is no limit 
bo ticca earnings. Further, new recruits not yet acclimatised or in a 
poor state of health are generally allowed a full kazira for the first 
month or two irrespective of output and, as we show in a later chapter, 
in some gardens monetary concessions are also given to children and to 
workers unable to work through sickness.