Don’t play politics over estate wage hike: UNP to Govt.

• Insists Rs. 1,000 wage hike must be paid with arrears from January
• Commends President’s efforts but urges him to deliver
• Emphasises plantation workers include 60% Tamil and 40% Sinhala
• Industry still in the dark on final modality

By Charumini 

de Silva

United National Party (UNP)-linked Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union (LJEWU) General Secretary and MP Vadivel Suresh yesterday stressed the Government must not play politics over the pending wage hike for plantation workers, while insisting that it must be paid with arrears, without linking to

MP Vadivel Suresh

productivity.“The proposed daily wage hike for the plantation sector should not be limited to a political campaign promise.

 President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised that the daily wage of estate workers will be increased to Rs. 1,000 after he wins the Presidential Election, but two months have gone by and the Government is yet to announce the final modality and sign agreements,” he said.

Although the proposal to increase the plantation sector workers daily wage to Rs. 1,000 with effect from 1 March was approved by the Cabinet, he claimed the Government has failed to make it a law and implement it.

“The Government continues to say that the wage hike will be effective from March, but the salary for that month will only be given on 10 April, and that is the General Election period. If by any chance the General Election has been declared by then, the Election Commission could intervene and bring it to a standstill. This has happened before and it will only impact the poor workers,” he said. 

Commending the efforts taken by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in obtaining Cabinet approval to increase the daily wage from Rs. 855 to Rs. 1,000, Suresh said it was critical to gazette and implement the hike now.

“It is now the duty of the Government to inform the 22 RPCs to pay the 242,740 workers the Rs. 1,000 daily wage, with arrears from January, because the President promised the salary hike will be given after the Presidential Election. This is a simple task. The Government must now legalise the Cabinet decision,” he added.

He also pointed out that the estate workers do not consist of only Tamil people. “Plantation sector workers include 60% Tamil people and 40% Sinhala people. Do not try to play with their aspirations,” he stressed.

Suresh said everyone in the country has a duty and a responsibility to increase the wages of the estate workers, considering the cost of living. “All must be responsible, be it the previous regime or the current Government. Do not play with the workers. Do not give false promises. No one should encourage false campaign promises either. If the President said that Rs. 1,000 will be paid, it must be given immediately without further delay,” he pointed out.

However, he firmly said that the wage hike should not be connected to any conditions. “There should not be any conditions such as compulsory extra plucking of tea, rubber tapping, or any other productivity-linked terms. They are not robots to do that. It cannot happen,” he said.

When inquired from the industry, they also said that they have not yet been informed of a final modality of the wage hike, which is to be implemented with effect from 1 March.

Meanwhile, the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC), the leading trade union that represents plantation workers, backed out, claiming that some of the proposals by the RPCs are not favourable to plantation workers.

Plantation unions are concerned that the wage increase would come with strings attached, where workers will have to pluck more tea and would be subjected to more mandatory working hours, in addition to the new productivity-linked model.