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The Wage Committee of the Labour Ministry in charge of the estate sector yesterday decided to provide a minimum daily wage of Rs 1,700 for estate workers in the tea and rubber industries.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe had earlier said he would convene a wages commission to further discuss the issue of daily wages for plantation workers and said he was ready to bring in special laws if needed to implement the decision to increase the daily wages of plantation workers to Rs1,700.
The wage committee meeting yesterday also voted on the wage hike, according to which an agreement was reached to provide the estate workers with a minimum basic wage of Rs 1,350 per day and a special allowance of Rs 350 for attendance.
Earlier, the Indian government decided to increase the daily minimum wage for plantation workers to 1,700 rupees, but was opposed by several plantation companies, who claimed that they could not afford such a pay increase.
Later, the government issued a notification to increase the daily minimum wage of estate workers to Rs 1,700, a move which was challenged in the Supreme Court, which ordered cancellation of the notification and directed the Wage Board to pay the daily minimum wage to estate workers.
Jeevan welcomed the decision.
Denes Sankarana
Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development Minister Jeevan Tundaman yesterday welcomed the Wage Board’s decision to provide daily wages of Rs 1,700 to estate workers and thanked President Ranil Wickremesinghe for intervening in the matter.
Minister Thondaman said the wage increase was voted on at the Wages Committee meeting yesterday (12th). He said 14 people voted in favor of the wage increase, while three plantation companies voted against it.
The agreement stipulates that the basic daily wage will be Rs 1,350 plus a special allowance of Rs 350.
Minister Thondaman stressed his commitment to fulfilling his promises, saying, “I am committed to fulfilling my promises. I promised Rs 1,700 a day as salary to the plantation workers and I fulfilled that promise just as I had earlier provided Rs 1,000 as salary.”
He further expressed satisfaction over achieving the salary hike and termed it a major victory.
Responding to the legal challenge over the wages, Minister Thondaman, who is also the Secretary General of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), expressed gratitude to President Wickremesinghe and former Minister Manusha Nanayakkara for correcting the errors identified by the court and implementing the wage hike.
Wadiwir thanks the president
Varuna Dayaratne
Lanka Jathika Estate Union general secretary and MP Vadivel Suresh expressed gratitude to President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the government for extending full support to increase the minimum daily wage of estate workers to Rs 1,700.
Vadivel yesterday said the decision to increase the daily wage of estate workers to Rs 1,700 was not taken in haste but after extensive negotiations between the labour ministry, trade unions and stakeholders for over a year.
He said that the plantation workers played a key role in maintaining the noble reputation of “Ceylon Tea” and made a huge contribution to Sri Lanka’s national economy and their daily wages deserved to be increased. He said their hard work had finally paid off and the Wages Board had finally agreed to increase the daily wages of plantation workers to Rs1,700.
Posts Wage Commission approves Rs 1,700 for estate workers First appeared in Daily News.
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