| The first round of discussions to decide on the pay hike of estate workers will be held tomorrow, with most of the trade unions demanding a 50 percent increase.
The Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union (LJEWU) led by the UNP, the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC), the Joint Plantation Trade Union and the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon will be participating at this discussion.
Ceylon Workers’ Congress president Minister Muthu Sivalingam told the Sunday Times as the collective agreement on the wages of estate workers expired on March 31 (Thursday), the unions and the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon will sign the collective agreement following the first round of discussions.
“On behalf of the CWC we will be demanding a fair wage increase for the workers depending on their productivity,” Minister Sivalingam said.
UNP-led Lanka Jathika Estate Workers’ Union general secretary K.Velayutham said demands for wage increases will be discussed at the meeting. The demand by the LJEWU for a wage increase will be decided after the first round of discussions, he said.
All Ceylon Estate Workers Union president Ramalingam Chandrasekar said his union would demand a wage increase of Rs. 750 per day. This particular demand was an outcome of the estate workers not getting their demand of a Rs. 500 increase in 2009 in the last collective agreement.
“The workers are only getting Rs. 285 at the moment. When the allowances are added to the salary they will be getting Rs. 405 per day. All the workers will not be getting their allowances everyday. Therefore this time the salary increase should be decided in a fair manner,” he said.
The Political Leader of the Up-Country People’s Front (UPF), Parliamentarian V.S Radhakrishnan said their demand would be to ask for a Rs. 680 pay hike. He also said the UPF had suggested an alliance with the Democratic Workers Congress led by Mano Ganesan, the Ceylon Democratic Unity Alliance led by S.Sathasivam and the National Union of Workers led by Parliamentarian P. Digambaram. “Once we hold the meeting with these unions in a coalition, we will decide on the other remaining demands,” he said.
The Democratic Workers Congress president Mano Ganesan said that his union will aim for a Rs. 750 wage increase per day.
The last collective agreement with the estate workers unions was signed on March 31, 2009 when Rs. 405 was decided as the salary for a day, including allowances. |
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