Meeting on tea workers’ salary issue postponed, gazette still on hold

The meeting scheduled to be held on Tuesday with Tamil Progressive Front (TPF), Regional Plantation Companies (RPC), Plantations Ministry and Labour Ministry to come to a conclusion about the salary increase of tea plantation workers, has been postponed until today (06), State Minister V.radhakrishnan of the TPF said.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, he said the officials from the RPCS had not yet confirmed their participation for the meeting.

RPCS refused to accede to the tea workers’ thousand rupee wage increase demand and signed off the Collective Agreement (CA) recently with the basic wage increased from Rs.500 to Rs.700. According to the new agreement a worker gets a daily pay of Rs.750 with a fixed share supplement of Rs. 50 which was Rs.30 earlier. The other two key allowances including attendance allowance of Rs.60 and Productivity Incentive of Rs. 140 were terminated. The TPF politicians including Ministers Mano Ganesan, V. Radhakrishnan

The TPF politicians including Ministers Mano Ganesan, V. Radhakrishnan and P. Thigambaram are insisting for the restoration of the Productivity Incentive of Rs. 140

and P. Thigambaram are insisting for the restoration of the Productivity Incentive of Rs. 140. As a result of their objection, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had agreed to delay the issuing of the gazette notification pertaining to increasing the daily wage of estate workers up to Rs.700 till yesterday to allow negotiations to continue on the issue until a solution is found.

“If the plantation companies don’t agree with our demand, we need the government to intervene and contribute to the salaries of the workers. That is when we will decide whether to stay in the unity government or quit. The government also has a responsibility,” State Minister Radhakrishnan said.