Sri Lanka Tea Plantation Workers Issue

Sri Lanka tea
plantation workers
issue
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DECLARATION
I hereby made declaration that this research study entitled “Sri Lanka tea plantation tea
workers issue” was carried out fully by me from the perspective of better understanding of data
gathered. All the interpretation made of data gathered are based on proper concepts and
frameworks. Also, compliance has been made of all the ethical norms and standards related to
copy and paste. Furthermore, no data has been copied or published as it is directly. All data
gathered are taken from the different sources having reliability and authenticity in it which can
be used by other researchers as well in their studies.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank to my supervisor under whose guidance I completed my project.
Their guidance and support helps me in choosing the right path to gather detail related to my
topic “Sri Lanka tea plantation workers issue”. I am grateful to my friends and family who
guided me at every point in my research and also helps in providing appropriate resources.
Finally, I would like to thank to god for giving me this opportunity to determine the various issue
which the workers are facing in Sri Lanka.
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ABSTRACT
From the present report it has been assessed that number of workers employed in the
business of tea plantation areas are getting low wages as compared to the criteria specified in the
Minimum Wage Act. A lot of discrimination has been made among all the workers being
employed in the tea plantation work in different form such as on the basis of education,
knowledge, ability which has formed base for allocation of wages to them. Also, it has been
identified that no compliance has been made in respect of providing employee benefits to
workers working in the plantation areas. From the research conducted it has been evaluated
further that the government of Sri Lanka has not taken corrective measures for improving the
overall position and life of the workers working in the tea plantation business. Due to low wages,
most of the workers are not able to fulfil their basic needs and necessities of life which has
hampered their efficiency as well. It is thus required on the part of both the government of Sri
Lanka as well as employer to initiate procedures which works for the betterment of workers
which directly adds to business productivity and profitability and also helps workers in
improving their cost of living.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1
1.1 Background of the Research.............................................................................................1
1.2 Research Problem Identification......................................................................................1
1.3 Research Questions..........................................................................................................3
1.4 Research Objective...........................................................................................................3
1.5 Significance of the Study.................................................................................................4
1.6 Limitations of the study....................................................................................................4
1.7 Chapter Outline................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................6
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................14
3.1 Conceptual Framework of research................................................................................14
3.2 Operationalization..........................................................................................................15
3.3 Research Design.............................................................................................................15
Sampling...............................................................................................................................16
Sampling Design and Selection Procedure..........................................................................16
Sample Size..........................................................................................................................17
Data Analysis........................................................................................................................17
Ethical Consideration...........................................................................................................17
Reliability and Validity........................................................................................................18
Research Type......................................................................................................................18
Research Philosophy............................................................................................................19
Research Approach...............................................................................................................19
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION....................................................21
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.....................................................39
5.1 & 5.2 Summary and conclusion of the study.................................................................39
5.3 Recommendation............................................................................................................40
5.4 Suggestions for further research.....................................................................................42
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................43
APPENDIX 1.................................................................................................................................47
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Questionnaire........................................................................................................................47
INDEX OF TABLES
Table 1: Age of workers................................................................................................................26
Table 2: Gender mostly employed in tea business.........................................................................28
Table 3: Family has worked as labour in tea plantation business..................................................30
Table 4: Salary as mentioned under the National Minimum wages..............................................31
Table 5: Factor determines the weak condition of workers in tea plantation business..................32
Table 6: Employer giving fair wages.............................................................................................34
Table 7: Difference between actual wage paid and amount determined.......................................35
Table 8: Gap between actual and wage ascertained by government.............................................36
Table 9: Basic reason for employer in respective of not giving the standard wages.....................38
Table 10: Government strategies in interest of workers ...............................................................39
Table 11: Company is discriminating workers in tea plantation business.....................................40
Table 12: Strict action by the government against company.........................................................42
LIST OF FIGURES
Illustration 1: Age of workers........................................................................................................26
Illustration 2: Gender mostly employed in tea business ...............................................................28
Illustration 3: Family has worked as labour in tea plantation business.........................................29
Illustration 4: Salary as mentioned under the National Minimum wages......................................30
Illustration 5: Factor determines the weak condition of workers in tea plantation business.........32
Illustration 6: Employer giving fair wages....................................................................................33
Illustration 7: Difference between actual wage paid and amount determined ..............................34
Illustration 8: Gap between actual and wage ascertained by government ....................................36
Illustration 9: Basic reason for employer in respective of not giving the standard wages ..........37
Illustration 10: Government strategies in interest of workers .....................................................38
Illustration 11: Company is discriminating workers in tea plantation business ..........................40
Illustration 12: Strict action by the government against company ...............................................41
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Topic: To investigate the issue of low wages to the tea plantation workers in Sri Lanka.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Research
Lower labour wage is refers to be a major issue in each business segment, thus tea
plantation sector is a labour intensive industry and probably requires labour throughout so long,
therefore the registered labour in the wide scale tea estates has decrease from 497,995 in the year
of 1988 to 405,304 in 1990 and as of 2013 it has foster declined to around 242,266, which is
approximate 42 percent decline within the past two decades. The wage or income which a
worker or employee obtains through their work places is therefore, what promote them to attain a
fair standard of living. The wage mainly affects the living of people, so it is essential for society
or government to ensure a fair wage to every worker, in terms of poverty and starvation to
encourage the success and growth of human resource and also ensure justice without likely
threats to law and order may undermine economic growth or progress. The workers of tea
plantation are different from the workers of other industry.
The major labour force involved in tea plantation are mainly belongs from Tamil as in
this Tamil people from Indian origin are involved. The major growth of the country is based on
the development of tea plantation industry. The living of Majority of the population of India
Tamils are based on the tea plantation sector, thus most of the workers are reside at the near
estate area. The people are stated in rooms and rows near to the estate area and these are
generally called labour lines in the locality of Sri Lanka. As the growth of Sri Lanka is based on
the tea plantation industry, so the government has taken different actions regarding the
betterment of labours, thus government has taken initiate to increase the daily wage of labours,
therefore this could be benefiting for encouraging labours to be sustain over the tea plantation
industry. The strategic idea behind labour line is to enable quick labour preparation and to
protect the boundary of the estates, thus in this particular industry regular care is required. Lower
labour wage is a major issue which has direct impact over the economic condition of the country,
thus Sri Lanka has faces various issues in tea plantation industry due to the reason of lower
labour wage.
1.2 Research Problem Identification
Symptoms of the Problem
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As per the problem identified with the workers working in the tea plantation areas of Sri
Lanka, it has been evaluated that most of the workers are not getting proper or minimum wages
for work done by them. Because of lack of monitoring and tracking of business processes,
employer records by the regulatory bodies, agencies it has affected workers directly. Also, the
government of Sri Lanka has not adopted any strong and effective policies, frameworks related
to the betterment of workers and their life. Discrimination has been made by the employer
among different workers working in the tea plantation on the basis of knowledge, education,
skills, ability etc. Such factors are considered by the employer at the time of providing wages to
workers. Also, no overtime has been provided to worker working for more than working hours
specified and no better working conditions has been given by the employer for the benefit of
worker.
Justification of the problem
The main motive behind selecting this research topic is to get deep insight about the
current scenario of Sri Lanka tea plantation area and workers employed in it. It has helped the
researcher in identifying key main factors which has affected the life of workers including low
wages as provided by their employers. It helps in evaluating that workers of Sri Lanka are not
able to receive minimum wages as specified by the National Minimum Wages. Workers working
in the tea plantation areas are not provided wages as per the cost of living of their areas which
has directly affected their standard of living. Thus, it has also created negative impact on the
business productivity as well as profitability aspects.
Defining Research Problem
The basic agricultural business in Sri Lanka is tea farming and the main monetary
business source is this. Due to the political and environmental background of Sri Lanka had
reduced in the area of providing proper wage relates to its workers. Due to this many workers
have left this agriculture business and started new setup of businesses, the government has
decided to provide a better solution to regains and provide better solution towards this issue, the
government shall subsidised the rates of this particular rates and provide benefits to the
commodity of this formation of legal issue. Sri Lanka has always been very repulsive in nature
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