As of the 13th August workers at a Sri Lankan tile manufacturing plant went on strike because they felt that they had insufficient wages.
The company in Jalatara, Ranala, had been in negotiations with the Inter Company Employees Union regarding wages since January 2010.
At that time a company representative said, “No agreement has been arrived at because the unions are not willing to compromise on their demands.”
However, the strike is now over after an agreement on the wages has been signed with the manager and the workers.
A total of 190 workers took part in the strike, refusing to work as they wanted a raise of Rs. 4,500 to bring their wages in line with the Cost of Living Index.
During the strike Mahendra Jayasekara, managing director at Lanka Tiles, said, “We’ve offered the first set a Rs 1,500 increase and the others an increase ranging from a minimum of Rs 4,750 and a maximum of Rs 5,750.”
This initial offer was subsequently rejected and the company was fearful that they would have to import tiles from rival firms in order to meet their commitments.
However, during breakthrough talks an agreement was reached and the strike has now been abandoned. The management have now signed a collective contract with the workers and set-wages have been agreed upon.
Although, the final wage is lower than the staff expected they are happy with the result and are impressed with consequences of the strike.
Therefore, as of the 31st of August the tile workers returned to factory and tile production has been resumed.
