The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka today issued an interim injunction preventing the implementation of the Gazette on increasing the daily minimum wage of Estate Sector workers.
The Supreme Court today issued the interim injunction after granting leave to proceed with a petition that had been filed challenging the minimum wage hike.
The petition had been filed by several plantation companies against the wage hike for estate sector workers.
In May this year, a Gazette notification was issued stipulating the daily minimum wage for estate sector workers to be Rs. 1,700.
The Extraordinary Gazette No. 2381/35 of April 25, 2024, was approved by the Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara, with the new regulation coming into effect from May 21, 2024.
At the time, Minister Nanayakkara also warned that plantations that do not pay their workers the newly stipulated minimum wage will be reacquired by the government.
However, the Planters’ Association of Ceylon strongly opposed the government’s wage hike of Rs. 1700 for plantation sector workers, stating it objects to the Government’s arbitrary, reckless, unilateral decision to drastically hike minimum wages for tea and rubber sector workers by an unprecedented 70%. (Newswire)
