Plantation companies also say unable to pay Rs.5, 000 allowance

Citing financial difficulties, worsened by the shortages of chemical fertilisers, the country’s plantation companies yesterday informed theLabour Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva that they are not in a position to extend the Rs.5000 allowance to their workers.

The representatives of the plantation sector including Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) at a meeting held at the Department of Labour yesterday pointed out that the cost of production has increased substantially in particular due to  the increase of daily minimum wage to Rs.1, 000 last year while the production has seen a decline due to minimum use of chemical fertiliser and other agrochemicals with the shortages in the market.

Although, tea and rubber auction prices had somewhat improved, they noted that the benefit of increased prices has mainly gone to intermediary export companies.
Further, representatives of plantation companies reasoned that they were short of required labour to increase the production.

Hence, they opined that the only way to increase wages of employees in plantation sector is to move into a productivity-based wage model.

Earlier this week, the private sector employers also rejected the government’s request to extend Rs.5, 000 allowance to employees citing their financial difficulties exacerbated by forex and supply chain crises.