The Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA) proposed a new income-generating model yesterday (17), through which it claimed plantation workers could earn as much as Rs. 55,000 to Rs. 70,000 per month, even as the Budget 2021 reiterated the much talked-about Rs. 1,000 daily wage.

Speaking at a virtual press conference conducted over video conferencing yesterday morning, recently appointed PA Chairman Bhathiya Bulumulla asserted: “We urge all stakeholders interested in the future of plantation families to support the move, which will see the employees earn far beyond a Rs. 1,000 to as much as Rs. 55,000 to Rs. 70,000 per month.

However, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mahinda Rajapaksa, in the first reading of Budget 2021 in Parliament yesterday afternoon, stressed the need to realise the daily wage of Rs. 1,000.

“Steps will have to be taken to encourage plantation companies that have become more successful and to review the privatisation agreements of unsatisfactory plantation companies and to set up alternative investments that can be commercially developed. I also propose to increase the daily wage of plantation workers to Rs. 1,000 from January 2021.”

He also issued a gentle warning to to plantation companies that fail to make this payment.

“I intend to present to Parliament in January a legal framework that will change the management agreements of plantation companies that are unable to pay this salary and provide opportunities for companies with successful business plans,” the PM said.

For the past 28 years, regional plantation companies (RPCs), which produce approximately 30% of all tea in Sri Lanka, and trade unions have been deadlocked in a Collective Agreement to determine daily wages of the plantation employees.

However, with a fresh round of negotiations falling due in January 2021, PA Chairman Bhathiya Bulumulla argued that the time has now come for meaningful and progressive reforms that follow in the footsteps of agribusiness models applied with great success in other nations, so that employees are empowered to take charge of their work and are in full control of their earnings.

“Everything in the plantation industry – markets, buyers, customers, and technology – have changed; the only factor that remains the same is the wage mode itself. The time has come to replace this archaic model with a system where workers can become entrepreneurs and take control of their earnings themselves. Otherwise, they will forever be locked in a wage system that doesn’t benefit them or the industry. Instead of the all too familiar rigmarole of forcing an ad hoc wage increase, we call trade unions and the Government to join us in supporting the implementation of a sustainable, productivity-based earnings model. While there are some details yet to be finalised, our industry is unanimous in its support of this reform.” urged the PA Chairman.

He added that this would be the first step towards modernising the entire industry to be globally competitive, while ensuring fair and sustainable livelihoods for the employees.

According to the PA, such productivity-linked wage models are being practised in successful agri- businesses across the globe and have already been proved to be highly effective in Sri Lanka.