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| Sunday, 8 September 2002 |
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Politics |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Recent wage hike agreement: Plantations Unions at loggerheads by P. Krishnaswamy A rift between the two dominant estate labour unions, the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) and the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers' Union (LJEWU), appeared imminent as they prepared to negotiate ancillary worker benefits with the estate managements following the recent wage hike agreement. An official of the LJEWU claims that the CWC had failed to ensure the inclusion of the ancillary benefits in the new wage hike agreement and, therefore, it was not a comprehensive agreement. He described the agreement as a 'piece-meal' deal and warned that the proposed follow-up 'protocol' over the ancillary benefits may not be legally enforceable. CWC spokesman and parliamentarian R. Yogarajan, however, denied the accusation and said that the wage hike agreement was only a component of a comprehensive agreement. He said that the other ancillary benefits to the workers will be negotiated with the estate managements for inclusion in the comprehensive Collective Agreement. Meanwhile, the wage hike of Rs. 147 to the tea estate worker and Rs. 131 to the rubber estate worker is subject to a revision after one year if the national gross sales average of tea (NGSAT) rose by 25% within that period. Director (Plantations) of the Employers' Federation of Ceylon (EFC), Vernon de Rosairo, told the Sunday Observer that an increase in the NGSAT would be determined by several factors including climatic conditions, an increase in production, the quality and competitiveness in the world market. Additional monetary benefits will accrue to the workers once an agreement is reached at the talks between the unions and the management over the ancillary benefits. They are benefits such as housing, medical care, rate of payment for extra-poundage above the specified norm, overtime, festival advance, maternity benefits, funeral expenses etc. |
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