Estate workers’ salaries
By Tommy Wanigasinghe
[Kurunegala]
Labour is an essential element in running our plantations. Without them our plantations cannot function as witnessed during the recent strike. The present day plantation worker is the progeny of the cheap Indian labour brought to the island during the time of the British. They have been with us for four or five generations, all the while contributing their toil for the betterment of our country for a pittance.
They do not seem to receive a realistic wage compared to what a manual worker who works outside the plantation gets. Hence whatever the argument of plantation companies may be it is nothing but fair they are paid realistic wages.
Unfortunately for us, with the passage of time the children of this labour force have studied, passed exams and gone in search of greener pastures. Many of these younger people are not in the estate sector anymore and the estates have had to recruit local labour from the nearby villages to replace the labour that has been lost.
It is a known fact that even now some of the male labour force go to work in the adjoining towns during their free time to earn additional money. Youngsters come to Colombo or go to major towns to work in shops while a good number of young girls seek employment as domestics in Colombo or even securing better employment in communication centres and business establishments.
To stem this tide it is important that the government or the plantation companies take meaningful steps to provide these people avenues to earn money in addition to what is paid to them by the estate. It could be collective farming or even cottage industries.
The initial expenditure for the setting up of such enterprises — raw materials, equipment, animals, seed and plants etc. could be supplied by the estate and the cost recovered from them in installments. The produce generated by these enterprises could in turn be bought by the estates encouraging the workers to carry on with these enterprises with dedication.
Such steps would certainly contribute towards a contended labour force that would strive to work for the betterment of the plantations they work for.
A contended labour force means less disruption of work by trade union action and increase in productivity contributing to the flourishing of the plantation sector and the tea industry.
[A Letter to the Editor, Published in thesundayleader.lk]
