More than a thousand plantation workers have gone on a one-day strike, accusing the plantation administration for deducting their basic daily wage. More than 1,500 plantation workers took part in the strike, which began on Tuesday, November 23. The majority of them are women.
Workers at tea estates in Nuwara Eliya, Agarapathana, Albion Estate, Briston Sinna Nagawatta and New Briston have reported to work today and are on strike. Simultaneously, Sinna Nagawatta estate workers staged a protest, according to provincial journalists. Protesters have pointed out that the basic wage of plantation workers has been set at 1,000 rupees a day by the Wages Board and published in a gazette notification, but that the plantation companies are deducting the basic wage by 1,000 rupees, imposing various unfair conditions.
They further stated that the estate managers had stipulated that a worker must pluck at least 20 kilos of tea leaves per day in order to be paid a basic daily wage of 1,000 rupees. But one worker could not pluck 20kg of tea leaves per day due to the untimely supply of fertilizer for tea cultivation and its owners not managing the plantation properly. They have further pointed out that they are currently facing severe hardships through wage deduction due to the unaffordable cost of living in the country.
There are constant allegations from the plantation sector that state owners are deduct the daily wage of plantation workers, which has been increased to 1,000 rupees. Although the Wages Board has fixed the basic daily wage of plantation workers at 1,000 rupees and published it in a gazette notification, there have been a number of protests in the plantation sector over the past few months against plantation companies over imposing various unfair conditions and deducting their basic wages by 1,000 rupees.