Bogawantalawa tea plantation workers begin strike

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 August 2007, 22:14 GMT]
Plantation workers at the Bogawantalawa tea estate boycotted work Monday to protest the demand by the management to increase daily production, sources in hill country said.

The daily quantity of tender tea leaves plucked is 14 kilos but the estate management announced beginning Tuesday, each employee should pick 16 kilos per day, sparking the strike, a spokesman said.

Usually an estate worker picks a maximum of 14 kilos of tea leaves and if they work overtime and pick two more kilos they are paid over time and this sudden announcement was to deprive them the additional payment, the employees complained.

As the talks with the management failed to produce any results, the protest strike by the workers is scheduled to continue and is expected to spread to other estates in the plantatation sector, sources said.