Ceylon Workers Red Flag Union – Workers’ Tribunal from 7 to 8 June

The Ceylon Workers Red Flag Union has brought together workers from the plantation sector to organise the first ever Workers’ Tribunal from 7 to 8 June, at the BMICH, Colombo. In this Tribunal several other unions will also be giving their testimonies.

Organisers said it has been 200 years since workers in the plantations have been enabling Sri Lanka’s growth with their sweat and blood. The situation of the workers remain dire and unchanged. The long-standing mobilisation by workers demanding an increase in the basic wages to Rs. 1,000/- began in 2010 and gained momentum in 2018. In this context, the Wages Board increased the workers’ wages to Rs. 1,000/- per day in 2019. The intervention of the Wages Board in this matter has been unacceptable to the companies and the legal battle is still ongoing. Therefore, since 2018, the conditions of workers’ rights have only become worse.

Following this, the Collective Agreement which is an important document that safeguarded several labour rights for workers in tea and rubber estates lapsed in 2019 with no new one signed since. The absence of stipulated terms of work has meant that there has been further exploitation of workers by companies. Furthermore, companies have been introducing and rapidly transitioning to troubling practices of informalisation of labour in tea and rubber estates, all of which enact gross violations of labour rights.

Over this period, The Ceylon Workers Red Flag Union has taken many actions to safeguard workers’ rights including filing cases on behalf of its members to address these problems at the Labour Department, Labour Tribunal and Court of Appeal. Apart from the rare victories in individual cases, no holistic solutions have been forthcoming from the Government.

This Workers’ Tribunal is the latest in a series of actions that the union is taking to protect workers’ rights and affirm their dignity and self-respect. This Tribunal will provide an opportunity for tea and rubber plantation workers who are 4.3% of the population of the country, the poorest of all citizens and who cumulatively contribute almost 5% of the GDP to provide testimony with regards to violation of their labour rights before a panel of eminent judges who served in appellate courts of Sri Lanka, India and Nepal. The esteemed Judges of the Tribunal will listen to the testimony of the workers’ and deliver their findings and recommendations.