By Ishankha Singharachchi 

IN 1881, the first rubber plant in Sri Lanka was planted by George Thwaites in the Henarathgoda (Gampaha) Botanical Garden.  

In 1938, the leftist journal “Samasamajaya” (equal society) reported the first rubber plantation workers’ struggle in Sri Lanka as “the first strike of plantation workers in the history of the country”.  

It was reported that a strike started on July 13, 1938 and ended in victory within a few days. Since then, have the tears of the rubber plantation workers who fought for their basic rights for 86 years had more value than the tears of those days? 

It has been more than 200 years since the colonial rulers first brought workers from South India to the country for coffee, tea, and rubber cultivation. Much attention has been paid to tea estate workers, less to rubber estate workers, a similar semi-slave labour community.  

Since they were brought to this country, they have been ignored and subjected to subjugation and repression through laws such as the Citizenship Act, emergency law regulations, the Prevention of Terrorism Act, etc. They have been subjected to long-term pressure.  

Having become victims of labour exploitation and national oppression, they have sacrificed blood, tears, and sweat for more than two centuries – even sacrificing their lives in some cases – making a crucial contribution to the Sri Lankan economy, yet they still face poor living conditions.  

However, even though welfare programmes were implemented because of the surplus value they added to the Sri Lankan economy, these did not reach the plantation workers. Even today, they do not have the right to an inch of land in this country. They lack a wage proportionate to the cost of living – a living wage. 

A new working class in Sri Lanka

The first strike in the history of plantation workers in Sri Lanka was launched by rubber plantation workers.  

M.G. (MG) Mendis was a militant trade union leader. Lionel Sarath, who wrote Mendis’s biography, noted: “Five months after he (MG) moved to Kirantidiya, a strike began at the British colonial owners’ estate there. It was guided and organized by MG.”  

“This strike of Annasigala plantation workers, with the help of comrade M.G. Mendis happened for the first time in the history of Ceylon (historical name for Sri Lanka). This victory of united power should be an example for all plantation workers in the Pasdun Korale.” 

Although recorded as a victory ground for rubber plantation workers in history, the current situation is quite different in the Kalutara District. 

“On that day, our people were brought here from Tamil Nadu and trapped in estate line rooms. Even today, our lives are in the same situation,” said Usk Valley Estate Development Society President S. Pathmanathan from Baduraliya in the Kalutara District.  

He said they are living in greater difficulty today than in the past. 

“When there was a funeral back then, coffins and money were given by the estate. Cement was given to build the graves. A dhobi would come to the line rooms several times to take people’s clothes to be washed. A barber would come to cut people’s hair. They were paid by the estate. The expenses of the kovil festival were borne by the estate. Dry food was given at a subsidised price to be deducted from the salary. There is no such relief today,” he said.  

Pathmanathan said concession cuts are common on all rubber plantations. Due to the rising cost of living, the meagre salary of Rs. 900 (RM45) per working day is insufficient for these workers. They have yet to receive the daily wage that was increased to Rs.1,000 for plantation workers. 

The salary they receive is not enough to buy their children a nutritious meal, attend to their schooling, and purchase necessary equipment. Selvi, who gave up rubber trapping after 24 years due to cancer, said: “Only my husband is working now. But there is no work at the estate every day. There is nothing on rainy days.” 

Chintamani is an energetic woman who has been gathering milk from rubber trees for 35 years in the Moratenna Estate, Mawathagama. In this estate, which was a tea plantation 25 years ago and is located in difficult terrain in the Kurunegala District, women dominate the process of tapping and collecting rubber milk, as they do in other rubber plantations as well. 

“We need to tap 300 rubber trees in the morning. After about an hour, we have to collect the milk. We have to carry buckets of milk and travel up and down mountain slopes from tree to tree. At such times, some of our people have fallen and got injured. Besides that, they have been bitten by leeches, snakes, and other animals. Even so, we get Rs. 900 a day. It is not enough for survival,” she said. 

Although their daily work, which starts at around 6am, is supposed to end by 4-5pm, if the bowser carrying latex is delayed in its arrival, they are compelled to spend more time at work.  

“The prices of rice, flour, and sugar have increased, but the wages of our workers have not. The government should intervene and give a solution to this,” the mother of three emphasised, noting her requirement for a living wage. 

Even if both parents work on the rubber plantation, the money earned is insufficient for daily expenses and the education of children. Ranjani Kumar leads a very difficult life in the Moratenna Estate, where she has three school-aged children.

“I have been working in the estate since 2004. If you work for 30 days, you will get Rs. 24,000 after deducting EPF, ETF, and union membership fees. It is not sufficient in order to attend to the children’s needs. One is sitting for the A Levels while the other is sitting for the O Levels. My daughter is in Grade 6 and my husband is looking for another job,” she said.

Health and safety 

There are many instances in which chemicals are used in the rubber industry. The use of ammonia, in particular, poses a risk to rubber workers. There is a risk of skin burns, bleaching, eye burns, nose and throat disorders, visual impairment, finger injuries, cuts, etc. In addition, the threat of animal bites has a strong impact on rubber plantation workers. 

There is also a high possibility of accidents due to chemical substances as well as electrical leakages in the rubber industry. In 2018, a factory in Bogahagoda, Galle completely burned down due to an electricity leak. In the same year, a rubber factory in the Bulathsinghala area was closed because it released water contaminated by chemicals into the environment. 

Although the leading companies in the rubber industry in Sri Lanka have announced through their websites that they are acting in accordance with the instructions and guidelines of the World Health Organization as well as the International Labour Organization, none of that has become a reality in the workplace.  

The complaint of workers in Kurunegala, Kalutara, Ratnapura, Kegalle, Galle, etc. is that they do not receive protective clothing such as gloves, shoes, and hats. They have limited understanding about workplace health and safety practices. Trade unions have also displayed indifference with regard to informing them about their rights. 

The condition of estate hospitals is pathetic, with most estate companies paying scant attention to them. “There is a shortage of doctors, workers, medicine, and equipment in the plantation hospitals. Many hospitals are closed. No attention is being paid, especially to the health of children and the elderly,” said M. Chandrakumar, a schoolteacher from Ratnapura who is also the Ratnapura district organiser of the Tamil Progressive Front.

Estate education 

It is the aim of every parent in the plantations to liberate their children from the decades-long rubber milk tapping lifestyle of their ancestors in order to provide them with a better social status and way of life. The only way to fulfill their dreams is through better education. However, due to the poor condition of estate school education, there is a tendency for the next generation to be confined to the estate’s line rooms. 

Tamil medium education is in a pathetic condition in the Ratnapura district, where most of the rubber plantation workers live. 

Anthony Mansilmani belongs to a family of plantation workers residing in the Doloswala Estate in Nivithigala. He is an enthusiastic young man who is trying to improve the education of plantation workers’ children in the district. 

“Although there are 40 schools with classes up to O Levels, our children do not have teachers for science, mathematics, English, and technical subjects. If someone passes their A Levels, it is only in art subjects. There are 22 Tamil medium schools in Ratnapura with A Level classes, but there are no Science or Mathematics subjects. They don’t accept our children to Kandy and Colombo schools,” he said. 

However, Mansilmani is rendering an immense service by holding free support classes for elementary school children together with civil society organisations. 

Balangoda, Kahawatta, Pussella, Agalawatta, Dunhinda, and Mathurata are among 20 rubber estates controlled by companies. Some plantations consist of both tea and rubber crops, and only within the Kalawana Regional Secretariat is the majority constituted of tea smallholder plantations. 

“There are 102 estate-related Tamil schools across the district, but they have no teachers, equipment, or facilities. There are no science or mathematics teachers; most teachers are appointed and come from the northern and eastern provinces, but they don’t stay here for a long time,” said Chandrakumar, stressing the lack of representation of plantation workers in order to intervene in the district’s political authority. 

School education in rubber estates in the Kegalle, Kurunegala, Colombo, Galle, Matara, and Monaragala regions is also in a pathetic state. 

Although there are Tamil medium classes at Saint Mary’s College, Matugama in the Kalutara District, they cause discomfort for estate children due to discrimination by other students and teachers. 

“Children from estates are not allowed to enter laboratories or swimming pools. Such restrictions are even approved by teachers and principals. If we ask about it at the Past Students’ Association, they will attack our children,” said Pathmanathan.  

The attempt to set aside five acres of government land near Matugama in order to build a Tamil school as an alternative has been hampered due to a delay in approval by Sinhalese education administration officials, who form a majority in the area. 

The Monaragala District, which was established at the beginning of the 1960s as “Muppane” in Tamil, is a claimant to several areas belonging to the old Magama Kingdom as well as Vedda country. After the establishment of the district, the majority of the new residents were visitors from Matara. Out of the three divisional secretariat divisions of Monaragala, Bibila, and Badalkumbura, only the latter has tea, with most of the others being rubber estates.  

The Aliyawatta Estate and the Sirigala Estate, which were near the Monaragala Kumarawatte Estate, have been abandoned to the forest, leaving only the line rooms. There were once Tamil-medium schools for the children of estate workers, but their lack of teachers and facilities hampered education.  

Classes in most schools are limited to Grade 10. In order to study for the A Levels, students are compelled to travel 6km from the estate along hazardous roads to reach a school in the suburbs. Therefore, they give up without having completed their education and turn to rubber tapping or other forms of employment.

Land and housing rights 

Over the past two centuries, plantation workers generally spent their lives in a small space of 10x10ft, which was introduced by colonial rulers as line rooms. Although they have been given work on the estates, they are yet to gain ownership of a house or plot of land. In some cases, they are allowed to repair and expand their line rooms at their own expense, but this is very rare. 

“It is in this little line room that all the men and women live. Everything – cooking, cleaning, studying, and sleeping – has to be done in this small space,” Selvi from the Ask Valley Estate in Baduraliya said, adding that repeated explanation of facts to the estate manager was futile. 

Some plantation companies do not allow workers to do any home gardening, and if any plants have been cultivated, they are quick to uproot them forcibly. 

Line rooms also have minimal electricity, water, and sanitation facilities. Over the past centuries, many heartrending stories have been heard in every estate of workers who have lost all their earnings due to power leakages and line room fires. 

According to Mansilmani, cases of workers gaining ownership of a piece of land through a random natural disaster have also been reported. “Due to recent winds, a bo tree near a row of line rooms at a rubber estate in Kiribathgala fell and destroyed everything. Because there was no place for six families to stay, they received 10 perches to build a house in whichever way possible.”  

However, the problem that arises subsequently is that the workers lack sufficient funds to build a temporary house. “In the Doloswala Estate, 30 worker families have been allocated four acres of land, but they have no money to build houses,” Mansilmani said. 

Since 1930, no new line rooms have been built for workers. Due to population expansion, three or four families are compelled to live in one line room due to a lack of options. Even if a house is built with or without the permission of estate managers, they have no ownership over it. Many cases brought against workers for illegal construction are pending in courts. 

Workers living in line rooms receive letters in the estate’s name and do not have an address of their own. The letters that come through the post are handed over to them in a very haphazard manner. In cases where several persons have the same name, the appropriate person does not receive the letter. Letters are often lost or received far too late, resulting in lost opportunities at employment and in appearing for exams as well the loss of pawned jewelry. Despite workers’ requests for an address with a number for their line rooms, estate companies have yet to consent.

The victorious battle of Bathalagoda 

The workers of the Kurunegala, Bathalagoda Rubber Estate recently managed to gain a certain victory in the long-term agitation of plantation workers demanding land rights.  

Bathalagoda Estate comprises 281 acres owned by 10 families. Last May, when the owners were preparing to sell a part of the estate to a private investor, the workers sprang into action, forcibly taking over plots of land in a part of the estate where the rubber plantation was overgrown with weeds.  

The estate owners called the police to evict the workers, but it was prevented by the intervention of civil society organisations, including the Ibbagamuwa Devasarana Development Centre (DDC), which has a history of intervening in the problems of farmers, labourers, and marginalised social groups in the area.  

Subsequently, the estate owners agreed to grant 10 perches each to 28 worker families who had taken legal action against the sale of the estate in accordance with an agreement made between the two parties. The workers are required to vacate the existing line rooms within six months. Prior to that, they faced the challenge of having to build a temporary house on the land they received on account of the lack of necessary funds. 

Until last April, the daily wage of Batalagoda Estate workers was Rs. 750. Through the intervention of the DDC, they were able to increase their salary to Rs. 1,000, along with arrears.  

In addition, they succeeded in regularising their EPF and ETF as well. – September 2, 2024.

* Ishankha Singharachchi is a freelance journalist from Sri Lanka.