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Estate workers demand 70% pay hike, estate owners agree to 25%

16 Sep 2022

BY Mirudhula Thambiah   As the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC) has agreed to a 25% salary increment following the Ceylon Estate Staffs’ Union’s (CESU) demand for a 70% pay hike, the CESU stressed that a final decision on whether they will go ahead with the previously forewarned trade union (TU) action pertaining to this issue will be reached tomorrow (17). Speaking to The Morning, CESU General Secretary Robert Francis said that there were two rounds of discussions on 30 August and 5 September with EFC officials, at which the union had demanded a 70% pay hike, while the EFC had only agreed to a 25% increment.  “We demanded a salary hike of 70%, whereas we should have asked for a 200% or 400% hike with the current economic situation. Considering the industry and the situation of the plantation companies, we thought that we would propose a reasonable increment, and therefore demanded a 70% hike.  “At the first meeting, the EFC offered an 8% increment for each year of the collective agreement, which amounts to a total of 24% in the three-years collective agreement. We did not agree with that, and said that it was not sufficient. Then, we were able to make them agree to 25% upfront,” he said. Francis noted that the EFC said that it would increase the annual increment also by 25%, but that this too was not agreed to by the union, because the salary increment they had offered would only amount to Rs. 7,000 for the lower category of the estate staff, and Rs. 9,700 for the higher category.  “The EFC came to an alternate offer to give 25% or Rs. 10,000 as a flat rate. We said that that too won’t be adequate. It may be adequate for the juniors, but not for the seniors. With that, the talks came to a halt,” Francis added. However, EFC’s Plantation Services Group Chairman Roshan Rajadurai, speaking to The Morning, confirmed that they offered a 25% pay hike.  “Can you tell me one other sector that offers a 25% pay hike? In recent times, when all the industries are closing down and retrenching employees, we have offered this pay hike to the estate staff.”  He charged that demanding a 70% pay hike at this point is “comical”.  “We are not responsible for the economy. They must question the politicians. They are shooting at the wrong target. We are not the cause of this crisis. We cannot bankrupt the industry by agreeing to pay an amount that we cannot afford.” He also noted that a clerk-level estate staffer with the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level (O/L) qualification is paid a basic salary of Rs. 35,000. Accordingly, there are three categories of collective agreements signed in the estate sector, namely the Executive Agreement, the Staff Agreement, and the Labour Agreement. 


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