Planters’ Association of Ceylon reiterates that the new collective agreement between Regional Plantation Companies and estate sector trade unions is already binding.
“It does not require any further action from any other stakeholders in order to proceed with the new wage among the RPC sector,” Secretary General of the Planters’ Association, Lalith Obeyesekere said.
“Therefore wages have already been paid to workers based on the new agreement,”
He added that all stakeholders must come together to drive a long needed transition towards a sustainable wage model that provides maximum earnings to workers while remaining financially viable and in alignment with market conditions.
“This means that if workers are to earn more, they are able to do so, but only by increasing their productivity.”
The new agreement provides employees with a basic daily wage of 700 rupees, which will attract EPF /ETF together with a price share supplement of 50 rupees per employee.