‘CA protest by minor plantation TUs, politically motivated’

by P. Krishnaswamy

Labour and Labour Relations Minister Gamini Lokuge told the Sunday Observer that the proposed trade union protest tomorrow over the plantation Collective Agreement (CA) may be politically-oriented and not worker-welfare-oriented.

From the inception, the biennial CA on the wage increase for plantation workers had been signed between Trade Unions having over 40 percent membership and the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC), representing the Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs), he said.

This practice was followed when the April 4, 2013 CA was signed and the workers accepted the wage increase offered to them, he said.

The Government cannot be blamed because it was an agreement with the mutual consent of the unions representing the bulk of the workers and their employers.

As such, the Government cannot take serious note of protest demonstrations being staged by small trade unions, Minister Lokuge said.

Trade Union sources said that many plantation trade unions stage such protest demonstrations every time the CA is signed to lure workers as part of their ‘membership drive strategy’.

Seventeen minor plantation trade unions, including the Upcountry People’s Front (UPF) the National Union of Workers (NUW), the Democratic Workers’ Congress (DWC) and the Ceylon Workers’ United Front (CWUF) are to stage a protest tomorrow in front of the Ministry, followed by observing a “Black Workers’ Day” at Kotagala on May 2, to express their displeasure over the quantum of wage increase offered under the CA.

The CA was signed by the CWC, pro-UNP Lanka Jathika Estate Workers’ Union (LJEWU) and the Joint Plantation Trade Union Centre (JPTUC) which offered a daily wage of Rs. 620, an increase of Rs.70 from the previous CA.