Wages Board to discuss estate workers' salaries

COLOMBO (News1st): The Wages Board will meet on Wednesday to decide on increasing the wages of estate workers up to Rs 1000, labour minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has said. The minister told reporters yesterday that he had attempted to sign a collective agreement between employees and estate trade unions. "Since a consensus was not reached, I had no alternative but to approach the Wages Board to provide these salaries," he noted. However, trade unions have expressed concerns over this move. "We know that estate employers are not willing to provide the 1000 rupee wage," Sri Wasantha Abeykoon, the Propaganda Secretary of the Estate Workers Centre centre. He claimed that estate workers are unlikely to receive their wages from the Wages Board.