• Planters stick to their guns on productivity based wages
• Estate worker unions pledge to push for Rs. 1,700 daily pay
• Planters warn unilateral action can have disastrous consequences

Plantation companies say that they are not averse to the overall proposals seeking wage hikes for plantation sector workers, pointing out that what they oppose is the idea of providing such wage hikes without any equal gain in productivity.

They said that the long-proposed productivity-based wage model is the best way to achieve wage-related demands.

The Planters’ Association (PA) of Ceylon made these remarks in a context where estate sector workers have vowed to intensify their opposition, including through protests, seeking a wage hike at least up to Rs. 1,700. The Association recently submitted a proposal to the Labor Ministry proposing wage hikes under the productivity-based and attendance-based wage models, regarding which the Association is yet to receive a response.

Noting that blanket wage hikes will bankrupt the sector if implemented because the productivity should justify wages or wage hikes, the Association’s Media Spokesperson, Dr. Roshan Rajadurai, told The Daily Morning that the proposal submitted by the Association enables workers to earn close to Rs. 2,000, an amount he said many productive workers are already making. With regard to the claims of low wages in the sector, he pointed out that the plantation sector pays the highest wages among the sectors coming under the 45 Wages Boards. This is, in addition to other non-wage facilities.

 “Any unilateral decision will end up like the fertiliser fiasco,” Dr. Rajadurai said regarding the proposals seeking wage hikes, pointing out the importance of reaching a solution collectively and methodically.

Recently, estate sector trade unions alleged that the ongoing efforts, especially discussions with the authorities, seem to be dragging out, and that they remain sceptical about the outcomes of these efforts as well as the employers’ response. Citing the drastic rise in inflation since the last wage hike, trade unions told The Daily Morning that they are planning to intensify the ongoing trade union actions seeking a wage hike.