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Our Bureau

Thiruvananthapuram , Jan. 1

THE Association of Planters of Kerala (APK) has clarified that it could not accept the "unilateral" decision taken by the Plantation Labour Committee (PLC) on payment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to rubber and cardamom workers.

The Chairman of APK, Mr A.E. Joseph, said the association was surprised to learn from papers that a meeting of the PLC on December 18 had unilaterally decided to make DA payouts effective from October 2003 on rates applicable for that quarter.

According to him, a PLC meeting on May 13, 2002, had agreed on a freeze on DA payouts with retrospective effect from April 1, 2002. It had been further agreed that the wages as on March 31 that year would continue to hold till a final settlement was arrived at. No such settlement has been reached so far.

It is against this background that the PLC has chosen to disturb the status quo, without taking the management of rubber and cardamom plantations into confidence.

The management representatives could not attend the PLC meeting since they were preoccupied with another court case involving the APK and the PLC. According to Mr Joseph, the APK is of the opinion that the PLC, the highest conciliatory body in the plantation sector in the State, cannot proceed, nor did it have the legal backing, to impose a unilateral decision on it.

APK had already addressed the Chairman, PLC, on the need for having bilateral negotiations on wages and wage-related issues, as was the practice in other plantation States. It was also conveyed to the PLC that the industry was not averse to paying more to workers, provided it was based on realistic productivity-linked wages.

However, the trade unions would have none of this, and opposed even the very idea of constitution of a sub-committee to study productivity issue in the plantation sector as suggested by the Chief Minister.

More Stories on : Plantations | Kerala | Trade & Labour Unions

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