Thikkam distillery workers strike demanding wage increase

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 May 2005, 11:27 GMT]
More than fifty workers at the Thikkam, Jaffna distillery went on token strike and picketing today demanding immediate action on the promised increase of Rs 2500 in monthly wages, sources from Jaffna said. Thikkam is a coastal village in the northern coast of Jaffna peninsula, located 25km north of Jaffna town.

During the Peoples Alliance (PA) regime the then Minister Douglas Devananda took over the administration of the Thikkam distillery from the Vadamarachchi Palm Co-op Societies Federation under his ministry. Since the beginning of 2002 year the Thikkam distillery is being administered by the Palmyra Development Board, which now comes under the Ministry of Hindu Religious Affairs.

Later, distillery workers, after agitation, were successful in transferring administration of the distillery from Palmyra Development Board (PDB) to Federation of Vadamarachchi Palm Co-operative Societies.