February 8: The strike by some 400,000 Sri Lankan plantation workers entered its third day on Saturday with no sign of agreement between estate unions and plantation firms, officials said.Officials said there will be further talks on Saturday after the two parties failed to reach an agreement during discussions at a meeting called by labour minister John Seneviratne. But trade union and plantation firm officials on Saturday said there were no immediate plans for talks. The strike, which has halted tea picking and rubber tapping at plantations in Sri Lanka's lush central hills and the south, could affect world tea prices if it continued for a prolonged period, produce brokers have said.
A compromise offered earlier by the labour ministry, which intervened in the talks last week, failed to stop workers beginning the strike on Thursday, officials said. The unions are demanding a hike in daily wages to Rs 105 ($1.69) from the current Rs 83. Estate firms are not willing to pay more than Rs 98.
Tea is one ofSri Lanka's biggest export earners. Last year the Indian Ocean island recorded its highest ever production of 276.86 million kg.
The country earned Rs 38 billion from tea exports in the first 11 months of 1997, up 22.6 per cent from the same period in the previous year, the Central Bank has said. The auctions in Colombo are the largest in the world.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
