(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has called on the estate owners to consider the issue of increasing the daily wages of estate workers and present some positive proposals in the next few weeks.
The Prime Minister emphasized that a final decision on the salary increase of plantation workers would facilitate preparing the next budget proposals.
The Prime Minister made this request chairing a meeting with plantation company owners at Temple Trees yesterday on a request made by the plantation workers union, Ceylon Workers’ Congress to increase the daily wage of an estate worker to Rs. 1000 with the price share supplement, the productivity incentive and the attendance incentive added to the current basic daily wage of Rs. 750.
At the meeting yesterday, the Lanka Employees Union requested the Prime Minister to pay attention to the problems faced by the estate owners due to the global economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 epidemic.
Ministers Ramesh Pathirana and CB Ratnayake, Prime Minister’s Secretary Gamini Senarath, Vice President of the Ceylon Workers Congress,Senthil Thondaman, and General Secretary Jeevan Thondaman, Secretary to the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Export Agriculture Ravindra Hewawitharana, Secretary, Ministry of Community Empowerment and Estate Infrastructure Development DPG Kumarasiri, Director General of the Department of Public Enterprises, Athula Kumara, and representatives of plantation companies participated in the discussion.
