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| Sunday, 1 September 2002 |
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Features |  |
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General Special Preference (GSP) status from EU : TUs urge investigation of SL's labour standards Sri Lanka applied for GSP status to benefit from the special incentive arrangements for countries that protect labour rights under the European Union's new GSP regulation. The International Confederation of Labour (ICFTU) World Confederation of Labour (WCL) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and unions from Sri Lanka have raised objections to Sri Lanka's application on the grounds that a series of problems concerning core labour standards exist in Sri Lanka, notably: unacceptable levels of anti-union discrimination by employers, particularly in the FTZs; the Emergency Regulations that declare any service an essential service exempt from labour law, high level of child labour, discrimination against women and unequal pay for men and women in certain sectors. The ICFTU, WCL and the ETUC have issued a joint report on the matter with a request to formally investigate Sri Lanka's application for GSP status and provide the global unions an opportunity to substantiate their position. Workers' rights in the free trade zones There are widespread violations of trade union rights in the export processing zones, which in Sri Lanka are called Free Trade Zones (FTZs). Legislatively, workers in the FTZs have the same rights to join unions as other workers. However, few unions have been formed in the FTZs. The low unionisation rate within the FTZs is largely due to severe anti-union discrimination and the lack of recognition of trade unions by employers. The FTZs are managed by the Government's Board of Investment (BOI), which sets wages and other working conditions. Trade union representatives report that the BOI has strongly discouraged trade union activity and pressed the Labour commission not to prosecute employers who refuse to recognise of enter into collective bargaining with trade union. While many workplaces have "worker councils", composed of employees and employers, these have extremely limited functions - not including the power to negotiate binding contracts - and, in addition, they are chaired by the BOI. The Industrial Disputes (Amendment) Act of December 1999 is supposed to protect workers against acts of anti-union discrimination in taking up employment and in the course of employment, in accordance with the requirements of Articles 1 and 2 of Convention No. 98. It prohibits employers from interfering in trade union activities and requires them to recognise trade unions and the right to collective bargaining. However, since the adoption of the Act, many serious cases have been reported of anti-union discrimination and non-recognition of trade unions, at enterprises such as the Cosmos Macky factory in the Katunayake FTZ, a Korean/Sri Lankan joint venture company producing sports and ski wear for export, Fine Lanka Luggage Ltd, producing clothes for many internationally known companies, the Bensiri Rubber Products Branch, an Indian owned company producing surgical gloves and hot water bottles for export, Dulon Zippers, a Korean owned company making zippers for export as well as for the local market, Skyspan Asia in the Biyagama FTZ, producing fabric fireproof membrane structures for export, Topstar Branch, a Korean owned textile factory also in the Biyagama FTZ, producing power loom and knit fabric for export, and many more. The government clearly does not stop anti-union persecution nor provide adequate protection against anti-union discrimination. Freedom of association banned Despite ratifying ILO Conventions 87 and 98, in practice the Government has controlled strikes by declaring any industry or service to be essential under Emergency Regulations. For example, the President of Sri Lanka declared as essential services the garment export trade in 1989, the electric power industry in 1996, postal services in 1998 and medical services in 1999, thus making their strikes illegal. The Emergency Regulations of 3 May 2000 provide that the President might declare any service to be of public utility or to be essential for national security for the whole of Sri Lanka or for any area or place specified. These Regulations further restrict the rights of workers in "essential services". While the official explanation for the Emergency Regulations is that they are a necessity arising from the civil war pitting the government forces against the Tamil Tigers, there is grave concern in Sri Lanka that human and workers' rights are being violated increasingly and that the armed conflict is used as a pretext to control legitimate actions, including those by trade unions. The Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) points out that the invocation of a state of emergency cannot justify exemption from obligations arising under the Conventions or any suspension of their application. It called in its report published in 2001 for Emergency Regulations be amended so that they refer only to essential services in the strict sense of the term of cases of actual national crisis for a limited period and to the extent necessary to meet the requirements of the situation. The Government reported to the ILO that these Regulations had been amended and the list of services that could be declared by the President as essential had been repealed. However, it has not been confirmed that this has been carried out, nor that the government would refrain from promulgating a new Emergency Regulation illegalising any strikes in the future by defining them "non-essential" services. Child labour The Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Act of 1956 prohibits the employment of children under the age 14 in general. In spite of this, the ILO International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) reported in its 1999 survey that there are 475,531 working children between 5-14, out of which 91,615 are under the age 9 or younger. These children work in domestic services, coconut fibre production, bricks, fishing, wrapping tobacco, street trading, and farming. Many of them are subjected to physical, sexual and/or emotional abuse. There is a significant problem of child prostitution, in particular in certain coastal resort areas. The Department of National Planning estimated in 1991 that there were approximately 30,000 child prostitutes. An NGO, Protecting Environment and Children Everywhere (PEACE), reports more recently that about 10,000 children in the age group 6-14 years are exploited for commercial purposes. The National Child Protection Authority was established under the National Child Protection Authority Law (1998), whose major functions include recommending legal, administrative or other measures for the effective implementation of the national policy for the prevention of child abuse, as well as monitoring the implementation of laws relating to all forms of child abuse. It is also mandated to recommend measures to address the protection of children affected by armed conflict. However there remain serious problems of child labour in Sri Lanka and significant numbers of children suffer in the worst forms of child labour. Discrimination against women The National Workers' Charter of 1995 provides that the State shall take all appropriate steps to ensure to all women equal rights in respect of employment in the public, private and informal sectors. However, women have no legal protection against discrimination in the private sector, where women are often paid less than men for work of equal value and experience difficulty in rising to supervisory positions. White wage rates which discriminated on the basis of sex were removed in the majority of sectors in the 1980s, differential wage rates remain for men and women in the tobacco trade and the cinnamon trade. It is also reported that the National Labour Advisory Council has not considered the problem of equal pay for the past five years. Courtesy: National Association for Trade Union Research and Education (NATURE) |
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