The move by the Plantation Management Companies (PMCs) to deny the increased daily wage announced by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to the estate workers at the UNP upcountry May Day rally, should not be entertained by the Government. Instead, the Government should insist that this revised wage should be paid by the PMCs.
According to a news report, the PMCs had declared that they were unable to raise the daily wages of the estate workers without incurring a loss. They insist that the wages of estate workers should be production based. Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) General Secretary Minister Jeevan Thondaman in his May Day address said that the Government headed by President Ranil Wickremesinghe has given numerous concessions to plantation workers and the pledges made to them are being honoured. The President had already made a pledge to grant ownership of land to the estate worker community. Prior to this the lands on which they dwelt were owned by the PMCs.
President Wickremesinghe addressing the May Day rally of the Plantation workers in Kotagala pledged to grant a daily wage of Rs. 1,700 to estate workers. Presently they receive Rs.1,000 as their daily wage which the Estate Trade Unions (TUs) say is grossly inadequate given the steep rise in the Cost of Living. The PMCs say the gazette to this effect was issued without any consultation and they are considering legal action to annul the gazette notification.
The demand for a daily wage increase to the Plantation community was a long-standing one which was pledged by Finance Ministers over the years during their budget speeches. However, to the great disappointment of these folk, these pledges were merely confined to words with the community continuing to endure hardships with the pittance they earn as wages.
The PMCs should be told in no uncertain terms that enough is enough. They have long been resisting Government requests for a wage increase while continuing to earn massive profits, though claiming otherwise. True, the PMCs had to undergo hard times, especially during the pandemic days, resulting in a blow to exports, coupled with the economic meltdown. But this cannot always be cited in extenuation.
The PMCs had received many concessions from the Government. It is therefore only right that they reciprocate this gesture by loosening their purse strings somewhat on behalf of this long suffering community. With a loaf of bread priced at Rs. 150 and taking into consideration that plantation families are large ones and with bread being the staple in the estates, how these souls survive at all is rather difficult to imagine.
It is obvious that the estate community continues to be oppressed despite the copious tears shed on their behalf by politicians. It could be assumed that the President had taken cognizance of the fact that the plight of the Estate community should be taken up at a different level as they have been a voiceless lot ignored and discarded by all. This has made them ready supplicants of plantation sector politicians who had been using them all along for their personal enrichment, exploited and used for bargaining during the time of elections. The estate community vote had proved decisive in most national elections. Hitherto the estate Tamil community had been made the exclusive property of these crafty politicians with the knowledge and even the tacit support of national leaders. This way the community had been perennially tied to the electoral fortunes of these politicians and exploited to the hilt. Hence, it is time for the direct intervention of a national leader to redress their multifarious issues, which is exactly what President Wickremesinghe has sought to do.
The President also said that priority would also be given to the education of estate youth, with a university for the region. This is a vital step that would ensure that these youth would not take after their elders where their lives would be confined to the tea bushes. Education at any level would remove them from the drudgery of estate life and make them venture forth into the outside world to live with dignity and honour. This is already happening with the estate community that was said to number 130,000 a few years back now reduced to a little over 80,000, according to reports. This trend is even witnessed in other parts of the country where the youth no longer follow their elders engaged in agricultural pursuits but migrate to cities or even abroad in search of better jobs.
Most importantly, the plantation community should be rid of the drudgery of their existence and rescued from acute poverty. As already mentioned, today, for the estate community there is no life beyond the tea bushes and their line rooms .The children take after their parents as tea pluckers, for their economy does not provide for the luxury of schooling. Nothing has changed much for them during the 200 years since their arrival in this country. They still live in line rooms in the most primitive conditions, are paid paltry wages and exploited in every other way. The community deserves much better, considering that they are among those at the forefront of bringing foreign exchange to the country.
