New Agreement effective April 1:

Unions jubilant over success

by P. Krishnaswamy

With the successful conclusion of talks between the three major plantation trade unions and the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC), representing the 22 Regional Plantation Management Companies (RPCs) the workers in the estate sector will now get a daily wage of Rs. 515/= under the new Collective Agreement (CA) as against the wage of Rs.405/= under the previous CA that expired on March 31. The wage increase is to be paid with retrospective effect. The new CA covers the next two years.

The unions that are signatories to the CA the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC), the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union (LJEWU) and the Joint Plantation Trade Union Centre (JPTUC) are jubilant over their success in the negotiations and claim that this is an accomplishment that would contribute to rapid changes in the life of the workers.

But newly emerging smaller trade unions that are not signatories to the CA have expressed shortcomings saying that the wage increase falls far short of their expectations.

The Sunday Observer visited Hatton, Dickoya and Nawalapitiya which are in the hub of the upcountry tea export production region to find out the reactions of the workers to the new wage deal, selecting them at random and talking to them at centres where they converged to have their day’s output of green leaves weighed.

The common sight all along was that under a program introduced by President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the socio-economic well being of the plantation community, the primitive infrastructures, such as schools, hospitals and housing, are yielding place to new State managed structures in many estates. In the bad old times the whole family, six to seven members, worked to contribute to the household keeping.

Today smaller families, of about two or three, are working on the estates, with an acute labour shortage now being felt. The youth are looking for fresh fields and greener pastures, according to plantation management sources. They are in migration to the towns and the outside world as transient workers, they said.

It has been raining in these parts for the last few days and life is hard and miserable for the estate workers. But braving the rough weather they had turned up for work in all the three estates which we visited showing their contentment at the wage increase.

The Manager of Lonack Estate, Watawala assisted us by arranging a meeting with the workers while they were receiving their monthly wages at the estate office. The workers who were interviewed wanted to express their gratitude to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the CWC for the wage increase that has been offered to them under the new CA.

This time around, unlike last time, the wage increase was obtained without undue delays causing strikes, workers protests and picketing which resulted in huge losses to the estate managements and the State and they are very happy about it, they said. Many of the workers are members of the CWC.

The workers interviewed were Muthiah Muthuraj (55), his wife Subramainam Athistaletchumy (44), Iyakannu Manoharan (42) Loganathan Letchumy Prabha (37), Velu Kalidas (46), Marimuthu Ganeshwari (40), Arumugam Kalidas (41), D. Shassidevi (30), Arumugam Murugiah (27), Subramaniam Murugiah (27), Subramaniam Pushpanathan (29), Sinnasamy Selliah (58), Doraisamy Nirmaadevi (58), Rajendran Lalitha (28), Palanivel Theivanai Gnanamalar (46), Alagan Yogamani (38), Kitnan Rasalingam (49), Arumugam Paingili (40) and Ramiah Wijekumar (41).

It was evident in the interviews that only one or two members in a family is/are employed in the estate In most cases either the children are studying or those who have studied up to GCE (OL) are staying at home waiting for job opportunities outside the estate. Grown up boys have gone to Colombo or other urban areas for employment, they said.

They also said that the estate roads leading to the estate hospital, school and co-operative shop are in a bad condition needing rehabilitation. They also did not have proper latrine facilities, they said.

They are living in old line-room quarters which are in a dilapidated condition and new houses have not been built in their estate. Subramaniam Pushpanathan said that in spite of the labour shortage he is continuing to work as a casual labourer for four years.

In Greenwood Division of Imboolpitiya Estate, Nawalapitiya the workers interviewed said that they are happy over the wage increase. Many components of the previous wage increase depended on attendance and productivity and they were unable to make ends meet. With the new increase they looked forward to a better quality of life since many conditional components of the increase have been done away with.

But unless the estate management strictly adhered to all the clauses of the CA, including the fixing of the norms of the daily target in consultation with the estate committee leaders, they may not get the full wage of Rs.515/=.

K. Vadivel (47) his wife Kadirvelu Rajeswary (42) , Krishnamurthy Wijeratnam (32), Sathasivam Sarawanan (47), Ponnambalam Yoganathan (46), his wife Muthulingam Shantharohini (46), Sadayan Thirunavukkarasu (52), Muthu Krishnasamy (50), Subramaniam Mahadevi (48) , K. Vasanthi (34), Selladurai Jayamani (47), Velu Parameswary (37), Subramaniam Shanthakumari (40), Ramiah Yogeswary (38), Kanniah Parameswary (38), Muthu Packialetchumy (40), Kahirvelu Seethaletchumy (40), Murugesu Manikkavel (54), K. Vijeyakumari (55), Arputham Viyagulamary (49), her husband Mayilvaganam Leenus (47), Krishnasamy Manonmani (57), Selliah Rajeswari (49) and P.Solan (60) were interviewed in this estate and they expressed similar views. They included members of the different trade unions, including the unions that are opposed to the CA. More than 25 families in this estate have been given ownership of 40 to 80 perches of tea land while the others are also to be allotted land in a similar manner in the future. They derive income from green leaves from these plots of land, they said.

The six workers interviewed at Dickoya Estate, Dickoya expressed reservations over the wage increase saying that they never got the wage increase agreed upon in the previous agreement.

They said that the plantation managements will find ways of cutting down their wages although they have signed the agreement. They would rather have preferred a basic wage of Rs.450/-, they said. They are members of the National Union of Workers (NUW) led by P. Digambaram MP who is opposed to the CA. They are Nalliah Selvarajah (52), his wife Ratnam Vasantha (41), Nalliah Rajadurai (46) his wife Thangavelu Saraswathy (38), Sinnathamby Vijayaram (39) and his wife Thangavel Kanthimathy (32). CWC senior member in Badulla and former Parliamentarian T.V. Chennan said that many of the rival unions that are not signatories to the CA are misleading the workers by telling them that they have the required percentage of membership to be included in the process of negotiations and that if they had been included in the process they would have got a higher wage increase.

They are doing it for purposes of their personal politics and their union membership drive, he said.

They are newly emerging unions with no trade union background. Some other minor unions are also making similar claims. Instead of making statements, they should prove to the authorities concerned if they have the required membership strength for being included in the process of negotiations, he said.

Many of those opposing the CA are former MPs or Deputy Ministers who were defeated in the last general elections and consequently appointed as Advisors to the President, he pointed out.