Tea trade unions end strike agreeing to Rs 260 daily pay

By Walter Jayawardhana

Tea plantation trade unions entered into a new collective agreement with the Employers Federation reaching a compromise of a daily basic wage of 260 Rupees ending a strike that had entered its third week.

Ceylon Workers’ Congress, Ceylon National Estate Workers’ Union and Joint Plantation Trade Union Center represented the estate unions in the signing of this agreement. Chairman of the Employers’ Federation Gotabhaya Dasanayake and its member Lalith Obeysekara signed for the employers

The 33 per cent wage hike would be valid for the next two years and the salaries have been made effective since November 1.

The discussions were at a deadlock earlier with the employers offering 250 Rupees basic daily wage and the unions demanding 300 rupees.

President Mahinda Rajapksa presided over the signing of the new collective agreement. President Rajapaksa was also able to persuade the trade union leaders to come to a compromise since the major tea plantation trade union bosses , P. Chandrasekharan of the Upcountry People’s Front and Arumugam Thondaman of the Ceylon Workers Congress are his cabinet members.

P. Chandrasekharan , a day before the agreement said that President Rajapaksa had requested him to come to a quick compromise since the strike was costing the nation about one billion Rupees. He said he would comply with the request of the President. Meanwhile the Ceylon Workers Congress , on the request of the President helped all other unions to come to a compromise. Vice President of the Ceylon Workers Congress R. Yogarajan coordinated other smaller unions to come to the compromise.

In the Central hills , where Sri lanka’s best high grown Ceylon teas are produced , the workers were becoming restive with out seeing a resolution of the strike and at some workers were trying to organize sathyagraha inside tea factories when the employers called anti-riot units of the police. Some of the workers few days ago performed a sathyagraha on the rail tracks of Thalawakele, where the Podi meike train had to be delayed for 45 minutes. (EOM)

Estate Unions and the Employers’ Federation signed a new cooperative agreement in Colombo, on Tuesday, pertaining to salaries of estate workers, despite a half a million Sri Lankan plantation workers have entered the third week of their strike for higher pay. President Mahinda Rajapakse presided while the deal. According to the revised agreement, wage of an estate worker per day is 260 rupees.

The amount reflects a 33 percent increase. This agreement, which has been backdated to November 1st, will be effective for the next two years. The workers determination stands in marked contrast to the efforts of the trade union leaders who are conniving with management and the government to wind up the strike as quickly as possible.

Sri Lanka’s tea and rubber workers, among the most downtrodden sections of the working class, stopped work on December 5 to demand a daily wage of 300 rupees (less than $US3). Their present pay is just 135 rupees, plus a variable allowance of up to 60 rupees. Anger among workers has boiled over because they have not received any pay rise since mid-2004. Like other sections of the working class, estate workers have been hit by rapidly rising prices. They are only paid for the days on which they work. Many workers do not receive the full allowance, which is dependent