The issue of wages for estate workers has caused turmoil in the plantation sector. It is history that the estate workers had to struggle every time before they got an increase.

The estate workers whose toil has been the base of Sri Lanka's foreign exchange earnings assuring the welfare of the people of this country, have never been treated as human beings with dignity in this country.

A glaring epitaph-“We are born to work and die” –found engraved on a tomb of an estate worker in an estate in Kalutara reflects the fury and the frustration of the estate workers who rightly feel that they have been marginalized from the main stream of Lankan life.

Although the estate workers have won back their citizenship rights and franchise, these have not in any way made any improvement as far as their security and social dignity are concerned. The estate workers live as politically suppressed, economically backward and socially oppressed people.

Today their wage has become a big issue. In October 2004, there was an agreement between the estate trade unions and employees to pay Rs180 per day for Tea estate workers and Rs160 per day for workers on the rubber estates. Now with the expiry of this agreement, the estate workers demand a wage increase.

The estate workers now want Rs350 as daily wages and the trade unions demand Rs295 as wages per day. On the other hand, the Estate Employers’ Federation has announced a daily wage of Rs240. Therefore, there is a deadlock on this issue.

The workers argue that if the cost of living is taken into account, they are entitled for a higher increase. More than half the estate population is under-nourished and they live below poverty line. They are not entitled to Samurthy relief.

According to available information, 20 estate companies are agreeable to accommodate the workers’ demand while only 8 companies are opposing this proposal. In any event, all sectors must arrive at a decision through compromise.

At the same time, the government has a duty to ensure that the estate workers get a fair deal. The development projects including the samurthy relief must be extended to the estate population. The government has a moral duty to look after the estate workers who are the backbone of the economy of this country.

An English translation of the Editorial in Virakesari, a Tamil daily, based in Colombo

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