TUs, RPCs brace for stormy weather

Trade unions and Sri Lankan plantation companies are bracing for a tough round of negotiations, starting later this month, on the once- in- two years wage hike amidst the controversial state takeover of hundreds of acres of plantation land which has resulted in lost jobs for workers.

While the takeover of land to set up an industrial complex is becoming a thorny issue, both sides – unions and regional plantations companies (RPCs) – for the first thing, agree on one front; opposition to the ban on glyphosate.

This week the Government decided to lift the ban with estates awaiting stocks to roll into the country even as the workers were pining for the same as its absence had posed a risk to their work environment.

The two parties would be gearing up to work out the modalities of establishing a new model on the RPCs by engaging in discussions on a revenue sharing or out- grower system that would for the first time be introduced in the wage negotiations.

Planters Association President Sunil Poholiyadde said that they would be holding discussions with workers very shortly as the Collective Agreement entered into with the estate employees would lapse in September this year.

“We have amicably agreed to move forward,” he said about the discussions on the new out-grower model pointing out that they expect this new system to be worked out under the next agreement on wages.

“Workers should be willing because they would be better off with that method,” Mr. Poholiyadde said adding that under the revenue sharing model workers would be able to earn more.

S. Arullswamy, Vice President of the CWC, the largest estate worker union, told the Business Times on Friday that they would be proposing that discussions should initially be to ensure that all amounts paid to workers be brought under the living wage category without allocating it as productivity wage and tea sales allowance.

He pointed out that last time’s discussions had led to wages being based on a revenue sharing basis in which workers would be paid Rs. 500 salary and a productivity increase of Rs. 140 based on their meeting the estate requirement and tea sale of Rs.130. Mr. Arullswamy noted that this has led to most workers being unable to earn the full wages and queried whether a person could live on a paltry sum of Rs.500 alone.

“Unless you get the norm they don’t give ( the productivity wage) and eight hour of work – this is the reason estate workers are migrating to Colombo and other places,” he said.

However, it has been noted that workers leave the estates for varied reasons because they want to find employment in jobs outside the plantations to move out of the stigma of being branded as estate workers.

Meanwhile workers were impacted by the recent government decisions taken to acquire the lands in the Southern tea and rubber estates as a result of which people were made jobless.

It is learnt that the Kotagala and Horana Plantations have been issued with notices by the government that some of their lands are required for the establishment of an industrial estate. Already it is learnt the authorities have acquired about 4000 acres of land and one company is said to be making representations to the government with a view to stop such acquisitions. Despite opposition to the moves the state has also acquired about 393 hectares of land on the Millewa estate on the Kotagala Plantations in the Horana district.

Moreover, in another move the state is learnt to be vying for the Bogawantalawa estate lands to establish a golf turf there.

“They are trying to destroy the tea lands,” the union leader lamented.

Commenting on the out-grower model, Mr. Arullswamy noted that employers make arbitrary decisions in allocating acreages to workers; as a result the trade unions want to ensure that all workers would be made allocations equally.

Moreover, he noted that the lease period of the said lands allocated to workers should be extended for a period of about three years with government subsidies given to them and be entitled to operate as a smallholder.

In addition, he said that the workers would be paid as RPC employees for their work on 15 days per month and the rest of the days would be used to look after their own blocks.

Mr. Arullswamy also pointed out that they should be paid the market value for their teas and that the government should decide the price in this regard.

In addition, trade unions are proposing to discuss issues pertaining to the welfare activities of workers like maintenance and extra pay for sprayers, pruners and factory workers including supervisory kanganis. He also explained that these skilled workers should also be paid overtime as well.