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| Sunday, 4 August 2002 |
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Union action : Chamber warns of irreparable damage Even as the stand-off between estate labour and management entered its second week, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, intervening on behalf of the estate companies, has warned of 'irreparable damage' to the industry due to the union action. The powerful Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) launched its 'non-co-operation' action last week after two months of negotiations failed to arrive at an agreement on the quantum of wage increase and time-table for future negotiations. The 'non-conforming to rules' protest campaign led by the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) is continuing whereas the other plantation trade unions, including the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers' Union (LJEWU), are planning alternative trade union action to win their demands. General Secretary of the LJEWU, Rajah Senaviratne, told the "Sunday Observer" that his union would meet the other plantation trade unions on Tuesday, the 6th, to decide on alternative trade union action. He said that they did not join the CWC-led campaign because they were not consulted. CWC spokesman R. Yogarajan MP said that their demand for a pay hike of Rs. 151/- was very reasonable and their protest campaign will continue until they won it. Their campaign was very successful, he said. Director (Plantations) of the Employers' Federation of Ceylon (EFC), Vernon Rosairo, described the CWC-led protest campaign as a 'mixed-bag' with part of the workers joining in and others not. The campaign was more desruptive than a TU action because the workers disobeyed orders and did what they want. Two other major plantation trade unions, the Upcountry People's Front (UPF) led by Minister P. Chandrasekaran and the Democratic Workers' Alliance (DWA) led by former MP T.V. Chennan, have expressed reservations over the CWC campaign. They have stated that being in the government, the CWC should have resorted to other measures to obtain a better wage structure for the plantation workers. (P.K.) |
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