Wages board nod to Rs.1,000 daily wage for estate workers

By Chaturanga Samarawickrama  

The plantation workers daily wage of Rs.1,000 which includes a payment of Rs. 900 and a budgetary allowance of Rs. 100 per day was approved by the Wages Board at the meeting held yesterday, Labour Department Commissioner General Prabath Chandrakeerthi said.   

He told the Daily Mirror that the proposal to provide a daily basic wage of Rs.900 and a budgetary allowance of Rs. 100 was tabled at the Wages Board meeting which was held on February 8.   

Earlier, Labour Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva entrusted the final decision of the approval for a daily wage of Rs. 900 to the Wages Board after several rounds of talks with estate owners and trade union leaders on the increase had ended in failure.   

The Commissioner General said, once the decision has been approved by the subject Minister, it would be published in three languages via gazette notifications and through newspapers.   
The decision will come to effect from the date of the announcement published through the gazette notification. The Department will publish the gazette notification within a week, the Commissioner General added.