• Decry ‘insufficient’ productivity/attendance-based wage hike proposals 

Estate sector workers are planning to intensify union action starting from next week, demanding solutions to long drawn-out wage-related issues.

Even though they have been conducting various activities including protests, awareness raising campaigns, and discussions with the relevant authorities for some time, according to the All Ceylon Estate Workers’ Union Secretary J.M.A. Premaratne, those attempts have not yielded satisfactory outcomes. He further told The Daily Morning that even the ongoing process, especially discussions with the authorities, seems to be dragging out.

“We have been protesting demanding that the estate sector workers’ daily wage be increased to Rs. 2,000. The last wage hike took place in 2021. It has been three years since that. However, the prices of goods have increased by around 300%. Even the last discussion with the Wages Board on 10 April of this year ended without an agreement being reached. The Labour Department said that another discussion would be held within two weeks,” he said, opining that even if these discussions were held as planned, in their experience, plantation sector employers are unlikely to reach a progressive solution.

According to him, it is in this uncertain situation that the estate sector workers are planning to intensify their union actions, especially protests, starting next week.

“The previous struggle that sought a daily wage hike up to Rs. 1,000 involved collaborating with various other trade unions. In this case too, we are considering such a collaboration, and we have already held preliminary discussions in that regard,” he added.

In addition, with regard to recent wage-related proposals which focused on productivity and attendance-based wage hikes, Premaratne said that the proposed rates are insufficient and that these wage related proposals do not benefit estate sector workers.