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Govt. lambasted for Wages Board route on Estate workers’ daily wage

09 Feb 2021

  •  RPCs could sue and delay: NPP

  •  Should have amended Minimum Wage Act: SJB

  The Government has left the door open for the issue of plantation sector workers’ minimum wage to be dragged on by resorting to the Wages Board without amending the National Minimum Wage of Workers Act of 2016, Opposition lawmakers alleged in Parliament yesterday (9). “The Government is shying away from taking the responsibility to make a decision by going to the Wages Board. What if the planters go to courts against the Wages Board’s decision and the issue drags on?” questioned National People’s Power (NPP) parliamentarian Vijitha Herath during the Parliament debate yesterday. Shortly after, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Dr. Harsha de Silva pointed out that the Government could have enacted the Minimum Wage Act of 2016 as a simple solution to this issue instead of circling around and taking time with the Wages Board. The Ministry of Labour convened the Wages Board to bring a resolution to the matter as regional plantation companies (RPCs) and trade unions representing the workers could not reach an agreement. The Wages Board, which met on Monday (8), approved the proposal by the trade unions, stating the minimum daily wage of plantation workers must be increased to Rs. 1,000, with Rs. 900 paid by the RPCs and Rs. 100 allocated from the Government’s budget. When contacted for clarification on whether legal action is possible, Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA) Secretary General Lalith Obeysekera told The Morning that since this is the first time in the country’s history that the Wages Board has reached such a decision, the PA is not aware whether legal action against it is possible. “The current minimum wage in the country is around Rs. 12,500. However, on 8 February, the Wages Board ordered a Rs. 1,000 minimum wage for one sector. We do not know the repercussions of this, or whether it can be challenged in a court of law, although we will be looking at all possibilities in the coming days,” said Obeysekera. PA Media Spokesperson Dr. Roshan Rajadurai also raised concerns over the negative impacts of the Wages Board’s decision on the entire industry. “Only 25% of the industry is made up of the RPCs. We do not know how the other 75% would react to this issue,” said Dr. Rajadurai. When questioned as to whether legal action against the decision is being considered by the PA, Dr. Rajadurai said that it is too premature to discuss that at the moment. The proposal for increasing the minimum wage of plantation workers to Rs. 1,000 was declared at the 2021 Budget reading in December 2020 by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

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