Background Information:

The Plantation People (Indian Origin Tamils) form a Minority community that consists of about  4.4% (2012) of the population in Sri Lanka and   at   present it is estimated as approximately 1.5 million. When in the 18th  century plantations were started in Sri Lanka, people from India and specially from Tamil Nadu were brought as indentured labour to work in the plantations and as sanitary workers. Often so brought as captive labour happened to be oppressed castes. Todate, these oppressed people remain plantation labour and another segment of them are engaged in urban sector works..

• Daily Wage is the major component of the household income of the Sri Lankan plantation workers.

• The determination of daily wage etc., by Wages Boards under the Minimum Wages Ordinance (MWO) continued until the Collective Agreement (CA) system was introduced in the year 1992. CA is signed by representatives of selected Trade Unions of the plantation workers with Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC), hence the  Daily Wage  is decided by these two  representatives. The involvement  of  government representatives in wage determination process ended with the introduction of the CA system in 1992.

• The gender (male/female) based disparity in the wage system in the plantation sector and the low rate for children ceased after the 1984 strike in the said sector.

• At the same time, the CA could not bring tangible benefits to the plantation workers. In 2016, the workers demanded for Rs.800 per-day. However, the CA provided only Rs.500 as basic wage for a day. Moreover, a number of restrictions were imposed to include other allowances in the agreement. According to collective agreement signed on 15th October 2016, the basic wage of the plantation worker had been fixed at Rs. 500. per day worked, the attendance incentive at Rs. 60. and the price share supplement, (depending on the price of tea and rubber), at Rs.30. productivity incentive at Rs. 140. Gross earnings of a worker is Rs. 730.. The collective agreement stipulates that a worker will receive the gross wage of Rs.730. per-day, only if his/her out turn to work is 75% of the total number of days work offered.

Problem:

• It should be noted that the daily wage for a casual worker in the government and other sector is around Rs. 800 to Rs. 1000. For example, a worker who works in a construction site receives a minimum of Rs. 1200. and most of the private sectors pay Rs. 1200 to Rs. 1500 as daily wage to their workers in the country. In the meantime the wage of a plantation worker which was Rs. 540. in 2013 had increased to Rs.730. in 2016. A Survey in 2018 put the daily expenses of a plantation household, including food and other essential items, at Rs. 1352. According to the 2016 collective agreement, if a plantation worker’s annual out turn is 266 days, his/her monthly earning will be Rs. 15,330. This shows that the 2016 monthly earnings are not enough even to manage the monthly expenses.

• The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC), which is the body of privatized plantation companies, that negotiates with representatives of the plantation Trade Unions, argues that they are providing a number of benefits to the plantation workers. The benefits they cite are (a) contribution of 12 percent to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and 3 percent to the Employee Trust Fund (ETF) on the basis of basic wage;  (b) rent free line rooms, water supply and health care facilities and (c) distribution of tea (labor dust) at concessional price for the workers. The management company calculates the value of these benefits and argues that the plantation workers are receiving more income than others in the country.

• It should be noted that none of these benefits bring the plantation community to the expected level of social and economic indicators in the country. The plantation community is a backward community in several aspects. For example, nearly 8.8 percent (HCI) of them live below the poverty line, whereas, the urban sector average is only 1.9 and the national level 4.1 percent and still 67.1 percent (2016 -HIES) of people live in line rooms, which were constructed during the British colonial period. According to HIES 2016, lowest average per capita income had been reported from Estate sector as Rs.8,556 compared to national level Rs.16,377.

• In the recent past, the workers did not pressure either the government or the industry for wage increase, due to the unstable socio political situation in the country. Today, the situation has changed for better. The wage increase should be commensurate with the cost of living today. Work in the plantation, in the meantime, is physical labor centered, hazardous, and, tiring, having to work when it shines or rains. Loss  of energy is also higher than it is elsewhere. Therefore, determination of wages for plantation workers has also to ensure that the workers are able to regain the energy they lose in the course of work.

• Taking into consideration  the above facts, the workers, trade unions and CSOs demand a daily wage of Rs.1000.(US $5.5). minimum per day. In the meantime the voice for monthly wages for the plantation workers is also being raised in certain quarters, and it is doubtful whether this demand can be continued to be ignored in the long run.

Recommendations:

• The government & plantation companies / corporate sector should ensure that the demand of the workers for Rs. 1000. minimum daily wage is granted.
• The government & plantation companies / corporate sector should ensure that the plantation workers are put on a monthly wage as in the other private sectors.
• The government should intervene in the wage issue of the plantation workers, as a third party to make it a tri partite exercise.
• Wage of the plantation workers should be determined based on the Cost of Living in the country.
• Socio economic rights of the workers & their families should be ensured with reference to decent work, labor dignity, decent housing and social, welfare facilities and protection of rights of women workers.
• The state and the corporate sector (Plantation companies) should ensure the application of  ILO Convention 110, Principles of UN Global Compact and UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Human  Development Organization
P.O. Box. 171, Kandy,  20,000.
hdo.srilanka@gmail.com
Workers Solidarity Union (WSU), Kandy
Coalition of Agriculture Workers International  (CAWI).

Please endorse / sign and send us your/your organization names as you would like it to appear on the statement by 3.00 pm on 5^th January 2019.