Final decision on Rs. 1000 basic wage issue of estate workers today

By Chaminda Silva

Labour Commissioner General Prabath Chandrakeerthi yesterday said that final decision on the minimum wage of Rs 1,000 for estate workers would be made at a Wages Board meeting scheduled for today (8),

Chandrakeerthi told The Island that he Wages Board, of which he was the Chairman, consisted of eight union representatives, eight representatives of the employers and three representatives of the government.

The government had made a decision that each estate worker, including those working on rubber and Tea plantations, be paid a daily wage of Rs 1000 each. As per the decision each worker was entitled to a daily wage of Rs 900 and daily allowance of Rs 100 as announced in the budget proposals, the Commissioner General said.

He said: “This is not the first time the Wages Board is intervening to resolve the plantation workers’ wage issues. It had done so in 2004 and 2014. The focus of the Wages Board meeting will be to resolve the basic wage dispute.”