Estate unions allege employee funds diddled

By Padmini Matarage

Labour unions representing estate workers claim that over Rs.700 million in ETF and EPF funds of estate workers of the Namunukula Plantations Limited have gone missing.
According to the Ceylon Estate Staff's Union, over 700 million rupees in employee dues which the Namunukula Plantations Limited had handed over to Trusker Bottling Company, has already been lost.
Though they have held demonstrations and launched many other campaigns, the employees have been unsuccessful in their attempts to recover the money.
Namunukula Plantations Limited had handed over 6 of its estates in Badulla to Trusker Bottling Company (Pvt) Limited on a sub-lease basis.
Namunukula Plantations Limited had earlier been given these estates under the scheme which handed over the management of estates held by the Sri Lanka State Plantations Corporation and the Janatha Estate Development Board to private companies.
Among the estates which have been handed over are Hindagala, Gona Kale, Kanawaralla, Pingarawa and Kandahena.
These estates have a workforce of 4500 together with 250 other staff. However, there have been many problems since the handover. General Secretary of the Union, Nath Amarasinghe, said that the staff at these estates had been on strike for over two months in protest against injustices such as the non-payment of employee dues including EPF, ETF payments and gratuity for employees who have been sent on retirement.
During the period in which Trusker Bottling Company had been managing the estates, it had not paid employee dues amounting to over 700 million rupees and legal action has already been taken against the company.
However, Amarasinghe said that the company had obtained loans from both local and foreign banks by pledging the estates as collateral.
The employees had even held discussions with the labour commissioner but had been unable to find solutions to their problems. The union had also held a discussion presided over by Plantation Industries Minister D M Jayaratne and Minister of Healthcare and Nutrition, Nimal Siripala De Silva in parliament on April 2008.
The workers charge that the administration is not even in a position to pay their monthly wages. They say that the wages which were due to them on October 10 have still not been paid.
The staff has received only half of the salary which should have been paid to them on October 25. The union has also written to Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa of the situation.
When contacted, Secretary to the Labour Ministry, M Madehahewa said that his ministry has taken steps to pay salaries for the month of October and that dues to employees will be made soon.