Govt. says no Rs.200 hike to smallholder workers
The government has meted out step-motherly treatment to tea smallholder estate workers in the new 200-rupee wage hike funded by the state, declining to pay this amount even though smallholders are ready to pay the increase of Rs.200.
All estate sector workers in the country have been promised an increase by the government but amidst the ambiguity of this additional payment those serving on the smallholder plantations generating more than 60 per cent of Sri Lanka’s production have been left out.
Plantations Minister Samantha Viddyaratna told The Sunday Times Business that estate workers registered with the authorities which include the Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) and those working on the state run plantations namely the Janatha Estate Development Board and the Sri Lanka State Plantations Corporation will be paid the daily attendance incentive of Rs.200 by the government. This would apply to RPCs’ and state plantation workers without any stipulation on the number of days worked.
The Minister also said that the smallholder plantation workers are not paid the incentive since they are already paid a higher wage compared to the payment on the RPC estates.
According to the 2026 budget allocation of Rs.5000 million to pay the attendance incentive of Rs.200 it has been proposed that the RPCs also must contribute Rs.200 to the workers’ wages.
In this respect the budget allocation will meet the requirements of around 90,000 workers totalling from both the RPCs and the state plantations. RPC estate workers alone are estimated at 87,000.
The Finance Ministry and the Plantation Ministry will on Tuesday discuss the modalities of the Rs.200 payment to workers.
Workers on the RPCs now get Rs.1350 per day that includes an attendance incentive; a Price Share Supplement depending on the price of tea and rubber and a productivity incentive. In addition tea pluckers achieving the daily target are also entitled to an extra payment for each additional kilogram of tea plucked.
Workers on RPCs live on the estates and are provided a number of benefits while working there including electricity, housing, water (unless they source it from elsewhere), child care and other social benefits.
The government stance on non-payment of the attendance incentive to smallholders has irked the largest producer of tea in the country.
Galle-Kalutara Small and Medium Estate Owners Association President Ushan Samarasinghe told the Sunday Times Business that this created an unfair platform for the workers and the smallholders. On the one hand, the smallholders have invested fully in the lands by purchasing and cultivating them and the workers pluck the highest quantities on these plantations.
He noted that a number of their members have raised concerns as well insisting that while they increase the wages of the workers every time the pay is increased on the RPCs, smallholder workers are left out of the incentive payment by the government.
Authorities however insist that the workers on the smallholder plantations are being paid more than the workers on the RPCs. As a result there is no need to increase the pay for these workers.
Smallholder workers earn more on these estates as a result of the productivity based model of payment that allows workers to obtain more wages based on the amount plucked. In addition workers are sometimes provided food and transport as well by the owners of smallholder estates.
It is learnt that this new incentive is a method of motivating workers to pluck more on the RPC estates as opposed to the smallholder plantations.
Tea Smallholdings Development Association (TSHDA) Chairman Nimal Udugampola said that they obtain labour from the village and around the area and already pay a higher wage of around Rs.2000 per day.
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