Wages Board rules Rs. 1,700 minimum wage for plantation workers amidst legal battle

By Charumini de Silva

In a new development, the Wages Board yesterday decided to raise the minimum wage for plantation workers to Rs. 1,700. 

The decision was made during a meeting of the Estate Sector Wage Control Council at the Labour Department yesterday.

The Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) have agreed to a basic salary of Rs. 1,350, with an additional Rs. 350 based on a productivity model. 

This model allows workers to earn in productivity-based incentives, providing a significant boost to their overall earnings. 

“There is no limitation. They can earn over Rs. 350 based on the productivity model,” an industry source informed the Daily FT.

The increase in wages was seen as a crucial step toward improving the livelihoods of plantation workers, who have long advocated for better compensation. 

The move comes, despite the Supreme Court on 4 July issuing an interim injunction preventing the implementation of a gazette notification by the Labour Minister that sought to increase the daily wage of plantation workers to Rs. 1,700.

The interim order is in effect till the conclusion of the hearing of the petition. The Court has scheduled the next hearing for 28 August.

Further details regarding the implementation timeline and any additional measures to support plantation workers are expected to be announced by the Labour Department in the coming days. 

The decision by the Wages Board was welcomed by trade unions and worker advocacy groups, who pushed for higher wages in the sector for some time.

On 1 May, President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced a sharp hike of 70% in the daily wage for plantation workers to Rs. 1,700 during the May Day rally of the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) in Kotagala. 

The contentious Gazette Extraordinary No. 2381/35, issued on 25 April, had set the daily wage at Rs. 1,350 with an additional Rs. 350 to total Rs. 1,700, plus Rs. 80 for each extra kilo plucked. This increase in wages is applicable for the workers employed in the tea growing and manufacturing industry as well as for the workers employed in the rubber growing and raw rubber processing industries. 

At present, plantation workers receive Rs. 1,000 basic wage plus EPF/ETF and after plucking the set target of 20 kg and are paid an additional Rs. 40 a kilo.