Plantation work stoppage shows signs of breakthrough

by Thava Sajitharan

There were signs of a breakthrough in the deadlock that arose due to the massive strike by workers in the plantation sector. The government decided to make the daily wage of the estate workers 250/= on Friday. This wage is inclusive of all other allowances. The decision by the government is likely to result in the basic wage being increased to around 145/= from 135/=.Following a special Cabinet meeting last Friday in which President Mahinda Rajapaksa is reported to have stressed the need to bring the strike to an end as it badly affected the country's economy as well as the workers, a meeting was held between the Government ministers, union and political representatives and members of the Employers Federation at the Temple Trees in the evening to discuss the issue.

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake presided over the meeting. Labour Minister Athauda Seneviratne, Plantation and Industrial Minister Milroi Fernando and political and union representatives from the upcountry including Minister P. Chandrasekaran and Deputy Minister P. Radhakrushnan of the Upcountry Peoples' Front also participated at the meeting.

However unions have asked for time to come to a final decision. Upcountry People Front sources said yesterday that the strike had not been called off and noted that the workers demand was to grant a basic wage of 250/=. According to union sources, the strike is still continuing and a demonstration was to be staged in Hatton in this regard yesterday. The strike was launched on December 4 and continues for nearly two weeks. On the part of the plantation workers, their demand for the increased daily wage is seen as a sore need without which their precarious living conditions will become ever worse in the days to come. The workers demand that the inclusive daily wage be increased to 300/=, considering the rise on the cost of living.

On the other hand plantation companies maintain that they are not in a position to meet such a demand. The plantation sector is reported to have suffered a severe revenue loss amounting 2.9 Billions as a result of the strike.

The basic wage agreed in the collective agreement between the Employers Federation and the unions in 2004 was 135/=. With the addition of allowances, the total would be around 160/=. The allowances include the attendance incentive payment at 20/= to receive which one has to report to work over 75% of the days on which work was offered.

When we sought the views of the up country political party representatives and the union members that support the strike, they said that the strike was not organised by any particular union but by the workers themselves. Minister P.Chandrasekaran said "we cannot ask the workers to abandon the strike at this juncture. They will become furious if we do so. Their demands are fair and reasonable. Therefore we support their cause"

In contrast to the above opinion Minister Muthusivsalingam of the Ceylon Workers Congress alleged that the strike was stirred up by some politically motivated persons.

Ceylon Workers Congress, Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union (LJEWU) and Joint Plantation Union Centre - the three major Estate workers unions that were due to sign the collective agreement last month with the Employers Federation - have opted to stay away from the issue for the time being. Mr. L. Velayutham, Secretary General of the LJEWU said that the three unions met on Thursday and decided to wait till other groups come to a decision.

However Leader of the Sri Lanka Workers United Front S.Sathasivam charged that the CWC leader A. Thondaman supported the initial work-to-rule campaign by the workers and when they launched a full scale strike all of a sudden he changed his mood and asked the workers to give up the strike.

According to the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2002, a study conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics, the incidence of poverty among the estate workers increased by 46% between 1990/91 and 2002 while for the country as a whole it declined by 7% According to the UPF sources there had been considerable reduction in workforce in estates between 1991 and 2003.

The comparatively less number of workers have to make up the excess work. Prior to 1993, wages of plantation included a Cost of Living Allowance (CLA) as indicated by the Colombo Consumer Price Index.

The plantation companies discontinued the CLA after the privatisation of estates in 1996.