'One leaf a day' protest campaign called off

by P. Krishnaswamy

The 31-day-long 'one leaf a day' protest campaign by plantations workers in Bogawantalawa which crippled the industry in the tea export hub, was called off on Thursday following an agreement on the controversial 'plucking norm' issue between the Regional Plantation Company (RPC) and the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC).

Consequently, around 9,000 workers who had joined the campaign returned to work, CWC President and Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Muthu Sivalingam told the Sunday Observer.

The productivity norm (plucking norm) is variable according to the crop season, weather conditions and other factors that contribute to the crop yield.

In terms of the Collective Agreement (CA) the managements should fix the norm in consultation with estate level leaders including the leader of the 'Madhar Sangham, the Women's Front, the Deputy Minister said.

Since the CA was signed there had been industrial disputes in estates in the Bogawantalawa area as the managements of some estates had increased the productivity norm arbitrarily by 3-4 kg which led to the protest campaign.

The initial discussions which the CWC delegation, led by its General Secretary and Minister Arumugan Thondaman, held with the RPC on the issue of revising the productivity norm were not successful and the protest campaign continued from February 14 despite some other unions persuading them to return to work, Sivalingam said.

In discussions held on March 15 in the presence of the Commissioner of Labour (Industrial Relations) K. D. Manoj Priyantha, the estate managements agreed to negotiate with the estate union leaders to revise the plucking norm, to make ex-gratia payments to the workers in three monthly instalments for the number of days they were engaged in the industrial action and also to include the Rs. 4,000 salary advance already paid to them as part of the ex-gratia payment, Deputy Minister Sivalingam said.