Estate wage hike: Talks to resume on 29 April

By Shezna Shums

The trade unions, the Employers Federation and the Plantation Companies are to meet on 29 April to continue their discussions to iron out the issues relating to plantation workers with a view to signing the collective agreement which is overdue.

At the discussion held on Monday, 4 April, the Ceylon Workers Congress, the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers’ Union and the Joint Plantation Trade Union Centre with the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon and officials of the Regional Plantation Companies, all three parties to the collective agreement, put forward their proposals without any final decision being agreed upon.  

S. Ramanadan, Secretary General of the Lanka Estate Workers’ Union who is also the president of the Joint Plantation Trade Union Centre which represents several other trade unions in the plantation sector, speaking to the Daily FT said that at the discussion held on Monday the union representatives asked for an increase in the basic wage of the plantation worker.

Presently a plantation worker earns a daily basic salary of Rs.285 plus an attendance incentive payment of Rs. 90 and a productivity incentive of Rs. 30, all totalling to Rs. 405 as a daily wage.  



But this is on paper only, for a worker very rarely takes home a daily wage of Rs.405 due to various reasons.

Ramanadan insists that the productivity incentive payment of Rs. 30 should be removed and the estate workers’ basic pay per day should be increased to meet today’s cost of living.

“No settlement was agreed upon, and we have to discuss this matter further,” he said. 

Ramanadan noted that the current cost of living, the estate workers’ work experience and their hardships as well as their means of having a social life etc. should all be taken into consideration when these discussions are taking place.

Other issues put forward by the trade unions will be; payment for over and above the normal amount of tea and rubber collected per day, and payment for work carried out by the estate workers on Sundays.

The unions also insist that the companies abide by the agreement, as currently some companies violate certain clauses in the collective agreement such as payment of one and a half days pay for work carried out on a Sunday by the plantation worker.

Planters’ Association Chairman Lalith Obeysekera said that there will be a series of discussions and that they will be taking into consideration the issues affecting the plantation workers during the present. He added that the plantation industry boasts of approximately 52 million manpower days and that the Planters’ Association will be taking into a consideration a reasonable wage increase, as the industry has to be sustainable. The wage increase however will have to be sustainable and affordable to the companies concerned highlighted Obeysekera.

He stressed that the increase should be sustainable, as the plantation industry has to continue, for the workers to depend on the plantations for their livelihood.

The country’s economy too depends to an extent on the plantation sector, and given that all parties are intertwined, a reasonable solution will have to be agreed upon for the plantation worker as well as the plantation industry to survive.

Obeysekera had previously told the Daily FT that even a few rupees’ increase would run into millions of rupees for the companies, and as each company had approximately 12,000 to 15,000 estate workers the amount involved would be substantial. However Obeysekera did say that a reasonable increase will be looked at in this collective agreement.

Obeysekera added that there may be two more rounds of discussion before a final agreement is reached and that all the parties concerned will have to study the proposals that have been put forward so that there will be a fruitful discussion leading to the signing of the collective agreement.

The collective agreement between the plantation unions, the plantation companies and the Employers’ Federation is renewed every two years and the previous agreement ended on 31 March. The current discussions that are ongoing are for the signing of a new collective agreement that will be valid for two years from the date of signing.