Paper company employees complain:

Whither EPF?

Chaminda Perera

Employees of the Valachenai National Paper Company Limited say that their EPF contribution has not been remitted to the Central Bank’s EPF Fund for more than three years by the company management though it is deducted from their monthly salary.

They said that they received the Central Bank statement at the end of each financial year where the columns allocated for the Employees contribution and Employers contribution during the year have been marked as zero.

According to a member of the company’s Trade Union, the company has been in the practice of deducting EPF contributions from the employees’ salaries for more than two years and the money is held by the management.

Trade Union members complain that the employees who retired from the service of the company have been waiting for more than two years to obtain their gratuity payments. Joint Trade Union Alliance representatives of the company told the Daily News that a new Chief Executive Officer of the company visited the factory with the General Manager recently and told the employees that the Government would not lease out the factory to a third party.

They have instructed the employees to form a committee to repair machineries. Trade Union representatives say that the machines are not functioning properly. Employees said the boiler of the paper mill was powered by furnace oil. Steam produced by the boiler was sufficient to operate two machines. The management has decided to do away with the use of furnace oil and the boiler is now powered by paddy husks.

They said the steam produced by paddy husks powered boiler is not sufficient to run the two machines and this situation has led to the output reduction.

However, a higher official of the company yesterday told the Daily News that the company failed in remitting the EPF contribution of the employees to the Central Bank for two years. He said they have to pay the EPF arrears with surcharge and outstanding gratuity payments of the employees. He said the part of the employees salary is given by the Treasury. The production has improved considerably during the last year and the outstanding EPF contribution and the gratuity of the employees can be settled soon.

He added that the employees of the company should also be responsible for the low production of the company.

The Valachenai Paper mill is the first factory established under the National Paper Corporation in 1959. The second factory at Embilipitiya is to be leased out to a third party by the Government.