Jeevan Defends His Aggressive Behaviour At Point Pedro Estate

(MENAFN- Colombo Gazette) Minister Jeevan Thondaman defended his aggressive behaviour at the Point Pedro estate where he confronted the management and the Police over the daily wage issue.

Videos shared on social media showed the Minister storming into the Point Pedro estate belonging to Kelani Valley Plantations.

He is seen screaming at staff and telling them to leave the premises and also confronting Police officers for protecting the company.

Issuing a statement, Thondaman said he had to intervene into an ongoing trade union action by workers at the Point Pedro estate belonging to Kelani Valley Plantations.

“I intervened as the General Secretary of the Ceylon Workers Congress, the largest trade union representing the plantation workers. The workers had been striking in response to a number of grievances: 1. Refusal by the company to pay their legal minimum wage of Rs. 1700 a day ($5.5). 2. Estate managers forcefully wiping out the red pottus of Tamil women coming to work and removing their jewellery. 3. Replacing tea bushes with coffee. As a responsible trade union, we wrote several letters to the management asking them to resolve this matter respectfully and with decency. However, our letters were ignored,” he said.

Thondaman said that in response to the strike, the managers unlawfully terminated the employment of three workers and used the Police to intimidate and threaten striking workers.

“The management terminated their employment without conducting any inquiries. It is also illegal to terminate employment in response to a strike action. There were also no reasonable grounds for the police to step into an employment dispute between a private company and its union and threaten workers. Unfortunately, this decision by the management and police further aggravated the workers. As the General Secretary of the union, I stepped in to avoid the matter from further escalating,” he said.

Thondaman said that he entered the factory to release workers who were being kept inside by force by the management.

”Workers have the right to protest. No one can lock them inside against their will. I then called for a meeting between the union and the estate management. However, during the meeting, Acting ASP Ekanayake entered it without cause, sat on the side of the estate management and started taking the side of the management. This was unprecedented and violates the IGP's circular prohibiting Police interference into Trade Union meetings and action. This itself showed the culture of intimidation that is constantly used by estate management against their workers. As the police have no business in interfering into a union meeting, I had to remind him of the Circular and ask him to step out,” the Minister said.

Thondaman said that paying below the legal minimum wage, forcing workers to wipe out their cultural and religious identity and removing their personal jewellery are all examples of the modern day slavery that is being practiced by the plantation industry. (Colombo Gazette)

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