PM intervenes:

Estate pay deal revives industry

by P. Krishnaswamy

The plantation industry is likely to revert to normal production after months of suspense over workers’ pay demands following a deal fixed with an intervention last week by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The 22 plantation management companies had, since the expiry of the biennial collective agreement in March 2015, resisted estate labour union pressure to raise workers’ salaries. During the preceding months of negotiations with the powerful unions, estate managements had insisted that wage hikes should be tied to worker productivity.

However, following Premier Wickremesinghe’s personal mediation last week, the deadlocked negotiations proceeded toward a comprehensive agreement. The managements said they would shift from their previously rigid position linking any further salary increase to worker productivity.

National Union of Workers (NUW ) parliamentarian Mylvaganam Thilakraj told the Sunday Observer that party leader Minister Palany Thigambaram and leaders of the other two parties – the Up-country People’s Front (UPF) led by State Minister V. Radhakrishnan and the Democratic People’s Front (DPF) led by Minister Mano Ganeshan – who together formed the Tamil Progressive Front (TPF) had made a joint announcement about the salary agreement at a media briefing on Friday, October 30. Thilakraj disclosed that, that the Regional Plantation Companies (RPC) were likely to agree to a daily wage of Rs.790 as against the present maximum wage of Rs.620 , which includes the basic wage of Rs.450 with price share supplements, attendance bonus and other monetary benefits added to it.

Premier Wickremesinghe has now convened a conference next Friday , November 6, to be attended by representatives of the regional plantation companies, plantation trade unions, Labour Minister John Senaviratne , Plantation Industries Minister Navin Dissanayake and other plantation stakeholders to reach a final settlement. After a settlement is reached and the collective agreement signed, the plantation workers will get their wages increase with retrospective effect as from April 1, 2015, Thilakraj said. At the last round of talks held on Thursday, October 29, with the Premier in the chair and attended by Ministers John Seneviratne and Navin Dissanayake, representatives of the Labour Department, RPCs, trade unions and other stakeholders, the PM promised a reasonable wage increase to the workers.

A daily wage of Rs.790 should be considered as reasonable in the context of the current drop in tea prices in the world market and the depreciating demand, Thilakraj said.