Group of estate workers protest demanding Rs. 1,000 daily wage 

• CWC slams move as being politically motivated

A group of estate workers yesterday took to the streets in Bagawanthalawa demanding a daily wage of Rs. 1,000.

Around 200 estate workers came out to protest, blocking the Hatton-Balangoda main road and demanding Rs. 1,000 as a daily wage, refusing to accept the agreement reached between trade unions and Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs), which settled on Rs. 700 per day. 

Estate workers protesting said a daily wage of less than Rs. 1,000 would not be accepted under any circumstances. 

The Bagawantalawa Police said the protest started at around 9:30 a.m. and continued for about three hours. Despite the protest, no major incident or clash between workers was reported, Police said.

Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) Deputy Leader Ganapathi Kanakaraj told Daily FT that estate workers who supported the CWC had accepted the wage increase and the agreement would be signed today.

Referring to the Bagawanthalawa protest, Kankaraj said: “These are all politically-motivated protests. There is nothing but politics and those workers were the ones who went to work when we were protesting to win our demand.”

Plantation worker trade unions and RPCs reached a settlement on Friday to increase the basic daily wage to Rs. 700. During the settlement, the Government had agreed to help the companies pay three months’ arrears.