Plantation workers October wage increase a poser

by Elmo Leonard

The recurring wage increases of plantations workers due to come up in October will pose the most burdensome the industry will have to bear in recent times; notwithstanding other hardship the industry shoulders, the 70th AGM of The Ceylon Planters' Society (CPS) noted last week.

There were repeated references to delays in VAT-pay back on exports of tea. Nowhere in the world are taxes on exports paid upfront; it makes exports uncompetitive and drowns the industry, Rajan Yatawara, chairman, Hayleys group and chief guest on the occasion, said.

Planter, Neville Athukorale said that as in the long past, the stability of the Sri Lankan economy rested on the stability of the plantations industry. Food, clothing, medicine and other life-saving essentials are imported, using forex earnings generated by the plantations industry he said.

Chairman CPS, Nissanka Seneviratne called for a national policy for sustainable development of the plantation industry for the next 20 years, with all stakeholders, the public and private sector drawn into its making.

An aim of such an exercise would include achieving a greater export market share, in particular, for tea exports. It should include a methodology for sustainable soil management and ensure returns to shareholders and employees.

The Ministry of Plantations Industry was drafting such a policy document, but, estate staff, trade unions and other key stakeholders in the industry were not consulted. Armchair experts must be weeded out, he said.

It was a matter of regret that even after 14 years of privatisation, the private sector had not taken an initiative to formulate a national policy for the plantations industry; a lifeline of the country's economy, Seneviratne said.

Conforming to recent trends, 80 planters had opted out of planting during the current year, while 107 planters had left the industry in 2005. It is learned that more are to follow, and with it, the mean experience of planters working in the sector will soon fall to 5-10 years.

Then, the critical middle-management level of industry will be hard hit. Those planters who had left their jobs had secured employment in other industries, bearing much higher salaries and better terms, Seneviratne said.

Today, most superintendents were paid a salary of Rs. 35,000 to 50,000 per month and assistant superintendents Rs. 15,000 per month and RPCs on monthly renewable contracts. He appealed to the plantation companies to change their stance and offer more competitive salaries to planters and thus attract good management trainees.

Estate labour was in a worse situation, with the youth securing work in other industries and leaving their parents to work on the plantations up to retirement. The CPS chairman urged the authorities to take note of an impending shortage of the human resource on the plantations.

Of the 23 Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) only two or three engage in direct marketing outside the traditional Colombo tea auctions. The best examples being the Dilmah brand owners and Watawala Plantations. The success of Dilmah and Mlesna in selling tea direct to markets in UK, Australia, New Zealand, besides, was food for thought for other Sri Lankan companies, Seneviratne said.