The historic women workers’ protests that rocked the plantations in Kerala for the last one-and-a-half months, followed closely by a State-wide struggle, have been called off, following what could at best be described as a mixed outcome from the point of view of the workers. The plantation managements may consider this as another victory, the workers agreeing to be content with a 30 per cent hike in wages as against their original demand for a 100 per cent increase. Yet, the struggle has been path-breaking in that it has helped bring to light the harsh living and working conditions in the colonial-era plantations. It has also exposed the state, the trade unions and the plantation industry, the first two for their political absence in the region and the third for its exploitative practices. Though the struggle is over, it does not signify a permanent redress of the workers’ grievances...The Dalit women’s consolidation that emerged in Munnar offers lessons to all the three agencies involved in the stir: the state, the trade unions and the plantation management. While the state and the trade unions were politically absent in Munnar, and more so in the remaining plantation belts, the plantation managements turned their estates into mini empires.