Planters say productivity-based wage model a win-win for all

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam
Senior representatives of the plantation sector yesterday reiterated the need to urgently move towards the proposed productivity-based wage model and warned that turning a blind eye towards reforms would lead to a massive hit to both the workers and plantations.The Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA) stressed that opting for the productivity-based model would be a win-win situation for the industry since alongside the increase in output, the workers would also be able to achieve higher income.

“We are proposing a change that will take the industry forward and improve it in the long run. Failing to do so, the industry and its workers will both sink,” said PA Chairman Bhathiya Bulumulla, via a virtual press 
conference yesterday.

He stressed the need to transition away from the existing, colonial-era daily wage system, which he said has become “mired in political controversies and totally disconnected from economic reality”.

According to Bulumulla, supporting the wage model reform will allow plantation workers to fetch monthly incomes within the Rs.50,000 to Rs.70,000 range.

PA Media Spokesperson Dr. Roshan Rajadurai pointed out that while the proposed wage system may seem new to the Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs), it is an expansion of what has long been practiced in the smallholder sector.

“We want to take this model and enhance it even further, so that we offer more than what smallholders pay, and open a path for further reforms from the ground up,” he added.

Dr. Rajadurai shared that although the local plantation workers are paid higher wages when compared with the rest of the world, Sri Lanka records some of the lowest labour 
productivity levels.

“We want to be clear that we do not want to pay our workers less, we simply want a system of payment, which gives them a meaningful encouragement to earn much more,” stressed Dr. Rajadurai.

Reflecting similar sentiments, Sri Lanka Federation of Smallholders Chairman K.L. Gunaratne expressed with confidence that the proposed model would be a success since the workers would be empowered more when their earnings are within their own control.

“When they start aiming for a personal target, they are able to control the hours they work and allocate their efforts accordingly.

“Speaking both from my own experience and on behalf of other smallholders, moving towards productivity-linked wages was definitely the right call for our sector, as it increased worker efficiency, livelihood and the output in the sector,” he said.