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Rs. 1,000 daily wage for estate workers: Deadline set for final decision 

22 Dec 2020

  • Authorities urged to make final decision next Monday

  • Pay or handover company to Government: Minister 

  Minister of Labour Nimal Siripala de Silva yesterday (21) instructed the relevant authorities to take the final decision on increasing the minimum daily wage of estate workers to Rs. 1,000, as per the 2021 Budget proposals, by next Monday (28). The instructions were given by the Minister after considering the submissions made by both parties during the discussions with the Estate Workers' Leaders' and Employers' Federation of Ceylon (EFC) representatives regarding the increase in wages. The EFC is of the opinion that plantation workers should be given an additional target of 2 kg of leaves daily, and also stated that these employees had not carried out enough daily work that would justify paying them the gratuity at the end of their service. Accordingly, the employers proposed that every employee should be required to work 180 days a year.   In response, the Minister proposed to add an extra kg to the leaves plucked per day, and stated that the 180-day proposal could be accepted. Meanwhile, the workers' representatives also pointed out that it was not fair to reduce the number of leaves plucked by plantation workers that end up being assigned as crate weight and factory waste. Taking all these factors into consideration, the Minister stated that the Government's decision that the minimum wage for plantation workers should be Rs. 1,000, could not be changed under any circumstance. The Minister also instructed that if any company is unable to pay the minimum wage of Rs. 1,000, it is to handover the estate company to the Government. He also told the employers that the Government is ready to maintain the estates, or to handover the management to some other company.


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