26 October 2018 12:35 am
Recently, estate workers carried out several protest campaigns demanding that their basic daily wage of Rs.500 be increased to Rs.1000.
The minister told a news conference that the Government had the capacity to intervene and resolve this issue.
“I heard the owners of estates saying that they could not increase the daily wage because their factories were making losses. It is not true. They earn enough profits but they pretend that their factories are running at a loss,” the minister said.
“I urge the estate owners to hand over their businesses to the Government, if they can’t run them properly."
He said he had informed Plantation Minister Navin Dissanayake about what was happening and that this matter would be discussed on Monday. (Sheain Fernandopulle)