Lankan plantation workers' protest spreads across all plantations

  The Sri Lankan plantation workers’ go-slow protest campaign has now spread across the island and impacted severely on the estates plucking only 10-20 per cent of daily output, officials said on Tuesday. Planters Association Chairman Roshan Rajadurai told the Business Times that the go-slow campaign that started on Monday had spread to all parts of the island on Tuesday mooted by the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), the largest union representing the workers on the estates. He noted that they were currently plucking only 4-5 kg compared to the usual 18-20 kg prior to the go slow campaign. “It’s a deliberate go-slow since yesterday,” Mr. Rajadurai said adding that it was likely to be picked up by other workers as well since it was a demand for a wage hike. Discussions between estate worker unions and the Plantation owners commenced since end of March but there was no agreement reached. Other unions like the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union K. Velayutham, also State Minister for Plantation and Industry, said there was no consensus among the unions to stage this strike action. He believes this was carried out with intentions of gaining political mileage to pressurise the government to allow the CWC to join them. (SD)