Plantations brew new wage deal

■ Basic wage up from Rs. 285 per day to Rs. 380; minimum total pay Rs. 515

■ RPCs wage bill to incur additional Rs. 6 b

By Shezna Shums

The plantations industry yesterday struck a compromise for a new collective agreement widely seen as win-win for all stakeholders given the immediate and medium-term challenges.

The basic wage brewed by the estate sector trade unions and the Employers Federation of Ceylon who are signatories to the collective agreement, was Rs. 380 per day, up from Rs. 285 under the previous deal.

Added to this basic wage will be an attendance incentive of Rs. 105, which was earlier Rs. 90, and a price share supplement of Rs. 30, totalling Rs. 515 per day for a worker.

It was also noted that attendance incentives are paid when the plantation worker achieves a certain target.

However, in some cases, estates do not posses adequate tea bushes or work for workers in order to achieve this target.

A tea plantation worker who collects over and above the normal weight of tea leaves will receive Rs. 17 for every extra kilo of tea plucked.

A rubber plantation employer will receive Rs. 25 for every extra kilo of rubber collected over and above the normal stipulated weight.

Plantations companies running these estates provide the stipulated weight of tea or rubber to be collected depending on different factors affecting the estate.

At yesterday’s (6 June) meeting were Minister of Livestock and Rural Development R. Thondaman, Deputy Minister of Economic Development M. Silavingam and K. Mariamuttu, all from the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC).

Under the Joint Plantation Trade Union Centre President S. Ramanadan and Vice President T.G. Chandrasena were present at the discussions and from the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union (LJEWU) was the Administrative Secretary M.S. Mohideen.

These three parties were the signatories to the collective agreement with the Federation of Employers of Ceylon and the regional company representatives.

Sources in Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) told the Daily FT that as per the new deal the additional cost to their wage bill will be over Rs. 6 billion.

Federation of Employers of Ceylon President Lalith Obeysekera, when contacted however said the actual additional cost was still being worked out.

“It will be a phenomenal cost, there are 55 to 60 million man hour days in the plantation sector and every Rs. 1 will cost Rs. 55-60 million by way of cost,” Obeysekera explained.
He also said that many offers and counter offers had been put on the table but had been rejected by the plantation worker unions during the previous discussions.

According to Obeysekera, this new basic wage is about a 17.5% per cent increase and is more than what they expected to give.

Joint Plantation Trade Union Centre President S. Ramanadan said: “We have come to this settlement for the new collective agreement for 2011. The workers will be paid their wages in arrears being calculated from 1 April to date.” He added that the agreement was finalised after three months of prolonged dispute.

Commenting on whether the unions were happy with the new basic wage, Ramanadan asserted that they could ask for anything, but would have had to settle at some point and knew that their initial offer would not have been agreed to 100 per cent. “We had to meet them half way,” he stressed.

There had previously been six rounds of discussions before anything was finalised and Ramanadan noted that as the unions, they could have asked for Rs. 5, Rs. 10 or more, but that the discussions would have been prolonged further. “We had to consider this and the plantation workers are not patient.”

Nevertheless, Ramanadan said that they were satisfied with the final package.

The initial basic wage package put on the table by the Federation of Employers of Ceylon was Rs. 350.

source - www.ft.lk