The Planters Association (PA) has filed action in the Appeal Court against the gazette that imposed a 70 per cent increase in the wages of estate workers.
This case was taken up on Friday when objections were allowed to be taken up and is to be taken up for hearing again on Monday June 3.
The PA has strongly opposed the government’s insistence to implement a 70 per cent wage increase for estate workers pointing out that this will cause a collapse of the industry if implemented.
At a recent media briefing held in Colombo to highlight the concerns of the industry the PA Spokesman Dr. Roshan Rajadurai said that the government’s decision to increase wages is a serious setback and pointed out that while they are not averse to an increase they however, cannot increase by so much.
Like the ban imposed on Glyphosate and fertiliser this new decision by the government will bring down the industry, it was pointed out.
“This decision is not taking economics into consideration,” Dr. Rajadurai said.
The PA pointed out that they propose to implement the productivity based increase in wages thereby creating a win-win situation.
The PA also said that the government’s claims of attempting to take over the plantations if this wage hike does not go ahead can only be done if they buy back their shares by following the required protocols.
Source: Sunday Times Print edition
