LCELU threatens TU action

By Buddhika Samaraweera

Ruwan Gallage, President of the Low Country Estate Labourers’ Union (LCELU), said if the Government would not fulfil its promise to increase the daily wage of estate workers to  Rs 1,000, they would launch trade union action.

Adding the low country estate labourers often work in oil palm plantations, Gallage said estate owners could easily pay workers a salary of Rs 1,000 a day, as they earn a good income from oil palm cultivation.

He further said the Government was giving into estate owners. He also said although the Government should have formally instructed the estate owners to increase the daily wage to Rs 1,000, but had not been done so far. Plantation workers will strike from the first week of February, he said.