32 SOCIAL SCIENTIST From these findings one can conclude that the cashew industry has witnessed an increasing degree of exploitation of workers. But a detailed study of the structure of costs at the micro level is needed to get a better insight into the structure of the industry and the relation between labour and capital in it. For this, primary data was collected for analysing the structure of costs in a typical and average sized cashew factory in Quilon. A typical cashew factory with the capacity to process 100 bags of raw nuts (eight tons) per day has the following employment/ occupation pattern: Roasting 10, bormamen 10, scrubbing 6, shelling 300, peeling 400, peeling pieces 10, grading/filling 100, kernel checker 4, bag carrier 4, mycauds (general purpose cooly) 4, tinker, packer and stcnciller 2. Thus a typical factory with a capacity of processing 100 bags of raw nuts a day employs a total of 850 workers. The distribution of work force is based on the norms laid down by the Kerala High Court1. It may be seen from the pattern of work distribution that peeling and shelling work constitutes the main component of processing work load. There are variations in the exact strength of workers in a factory depanding on the size and quality of raw nuts processed. Most factories process both indigenous and imported nuts. Obviously, the size and quality of nuts differ. To illustrate, the imported nuts are smaller in size than indigenous nuts. So it is argued that to process imported nuts, more workers are needed than that for indigenous nuts. The difference in the number of workers needed to process the nuts has thus always been a matter of dispute. The shellers and peelers are mostly women and the nature of their work makes piece rates the most appropriate for fixing wages. Roasters, bormamen, scrubbers, kernel checkers, tinker, packers and stencillers are paid monthly wages. The rest are paid daily time rate. In 1953 minimum wages were fixed in the cashew industry. The piece rate workers were also given a "guaranteed minimum" time rate. The minimum wages were revised subsequently in 1960, 1965, 1967 and 1976. Following the revision in 1960, the workers were paid a dearness allowance (DA) in addition to basic wages. The DA was linked to the cost of living index. In addition to wages, the workers also enjoy fringe benefits like Employees State Insurance (ESI), leave with wages, bonus and so on. On strong trade union demands, the employers agreed to introduce the Employees Provident Fund scheme (EPF) from 1963. Over the years, the rates of wages, DA and other fringe benefits have increased adding to the wage cost of processing raw nuts in the industry.