Estate worker payments drop in percentage increases
Collective agreements between the Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) and the estate worker trade unions have been signed for over a decade now but interestingly the percentages in the increases were evidently dropping over the years.
A look back at the numbers since 2009 indicate that in that year the percentage increase over the previous daily basic wage was 42.50 per cent. Subsequently it has been dropping to 33.33 per cent in 2011, 18.42 per cent in 2013, and 11.11 per cent in 2016. This year however, the RPCs have increased it to 20 per cent to reach a new proposed basic wage of Rs.600.
The attendance incentive too has been erratic in its payments; it was Rs.90 in 2009 and had increased to Rs.105 in 2011 and Rs.140 in 2013 but had dropped to Rs.60 in 2016 and would be picked up this year to reach Rs.80.
As a result the percentage increase on previous total wage inclusive of Price Share Supplement, Productivity Incentive, Attendance Incentive, EPF and ETF has seen a decline over the years from 39.92 per cent in 2009 to 27.75 per cent in 2011, 20.19 per cent in 2013, 17.09 per cent in 2016 and this year’s total of Rs.940 would lead to only a 16.77 per cent increase in total earnings per day compared to the previous year.
Moreover, the fact that housing and other facilities were provided to workers on the estates have been continuously been highlighted by the RPCs, during wage negotiations. But this is however disputed by certain analysts who observe that this is merely a perk of the job of being an estate worker.
Ensuring their continued presence on the estates and the ability to engage them repeatedly on the same job for years has been as a result of the facilities offered to these workers due to which reason they continue to call the plantations their home.