Plantation TUs agitate for higher wages

by P. Krishnaswamy

Plantation trade unions have launched campaigns for a better wage structure for workers ahead of the expiry of the biennial Collective Agreement (CA) that concludes on March 31, 2013.

The CA was signed on June 6, 2011 among three major unions representing the bulk of the plantation workers and 23 Plantation Management Companies including the two state agencies, offering a wage increase of Rs.515 for workers.

The basic wage was fixed at Rs.380 while the Rs.105 productivity incentive and the Rs.30 price-share supplement were subject to conditions of attendance and productivity under the CA.

The Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) led by Minister Arumugam Thondaman, the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers’ Union (LJEWU) led by former parliamentarian K.Velautham and the Joint Plantation Trade Union Centre (JPTUC) led by its President S.Ramanathan were signatories, on behalf of the workers to the CA that expired on March 31, 2011.

The JVP’s All Ceylon Estate Workers’ Union (ACEWU) led by former JVP parliamentarian Ramalingam Chandrasekaran had met Labour Minister Gamini Lokuge on January 17 and sought a monthly salary for workers, according to reports.

Other trade union leaders whom the Sunday Observer contacted said that a monthly salary for estate workers will be disadvantageous because they will come under the Shop and Office Employees Act and forego many benefits which they now enjoy.

The Unions that are signatories to the CA said that they will hold meetings with their office-bearers this week to discuss the wage increase issue before a joint meeting among all unions.

JPTUC President S.Ramanathan told the Sunday Observer that they would ask for a wage increase taking into account inflation and the cost-of-living.