evidence: Three trade unions, the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union (LJEWU), Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) and the Joint Plantation Trade Union Centre (JPTUC), are signatories to the current collective agreement. In negotiating the new agreement they have demanded that basic salaries of workers be increased by Rs. 500-1000 a day. [...] "Workers require at least a Rs. 1,000 salary. They have to deal with leeches and leopards and face the hot sun. They deserve better pay," he emphasised. [...] Some plantation workers lamented that life would be difficult for their families, even in the unlikely event that wages were increased to Rs. 1,000. Sivanaiyah Ladchumanan, a 51-year-old labourer, said even the "reasonable demand" of a basic wage of Rs. 1,000 would be inadequate to support a family of three as prices of goods, including those for basic needs, had increased significantly.