Estate sector wages and living conditions: Distinguishing fact from fiction

February 6, 2016, 7:44 pm 

With reference to the article titled ‘Should plantation workers be working at poverty level wage’ by the President of the Lanka Estate Workers’ Union – Mr. Vijaya Kumar – which appeared in the Sunday Island of 17th January 2016, the Planters’ Association of Ceylon (which represents the Regional Plantation Companies) wishes to draw the readers’ attention to a number of serious issues/inaccuracies in the article.

Mr. Kumar’s grossly misleading interpretation of statistics and extreme exaggeration of many issues are most regrettable and appear to be yet another ‘publicity stunt’ by parties who, out of fear of losing their own political clout, are attempting to derail efforts by the Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) to move to a sustainable mutually-beneficial model for both the workers and the RPCs, by portraying a completely inaccurate picture of the incomes and living conditions of estate workers.

In stark contrast to what has been stated by Mr. Kumar, all indicators point out beyond any reasonable doubt that wages in Sri Lanka are the highest and our non-wage and other non-cash benefits are the best among all the plantation economies of the world, despite our productivity being the lowest among major tea producing nations. In addition, closer examination of official figures – including that of the Department of Census and Statistics – demonstrates the massive factual errors in the arguments presented by Mr. Kumar.

The government has repeatedly gone on record that the monthly minimum wage should be Rs. 10,000 – which incidentally the plantation workers achieved as far back as March 2013. At present, compared with the government stipulated minimum wage, the plantation workers can earn a substantially greater monthly income of Rs. 15,500 – demonstrating the invalidity of Mr. Kumar’s argument.

According to the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2012/2013 of the Department of Census and Statistics, the National household population is 19.9 million and the Rural population is 15.4 million compared to the 0.9 million Estate population. The rural population constitutes 77% of the national population and is 17 times the estate population. The estate sector income receivers at 2.1 per household are 20% more than the rural sector’s 1.7 income receivers per household.

Read more...