Collective agreement signed to acknowledge daily wage increase of estate workers

A collective agreement was signed between the Employers' Federation of Ceylon and trade unions acknowledging the wage increase of estate workers at Temple Trees today (Jan 28).

The agreement was signed by the Employers' Federation of Ceylon (EFC) which represented the employers along with the Ceylon Workers Union and the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union which represented the trade unions / workers.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Labour Minister Ravindra Samaraweera were witnesses to the signing.

The agreement stipulated that the daily basic wage of estate workers be increased from Rs 500 to Rs 700.

In addition, the price share supplement which is given to employees from the earnings of the company by selling tea, was also agreed to be increased from Rs 30 to Rs 50.

The payment for a kilo of tea was also increased from Rs 20 to Rs 40 thereby enabling a worker to receive Rs 855 inclusive of EPF and ETF allocations.

However, the productivity incentive of Rs 40 and the attendance incentive of Rs 140 have been removed from the lates wages revision.

This was due to several complaints received by estate workers claiming that they did not receive their wages in a proper manner, a spokesman for MP Arumugam Thondaman told Times Online.

"This was the first collective agreement to approve a wage increase of 40 percent to estate workers" he added.