|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 28 September 2003 |
 |
|
 |
Editorial |  |
| News Business Features Security
|
Please forward your comments to the
Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 1 429239 / 331181 Fax : 94 1 429230 Strikes A section of state sector hospital trade unions seem to be set on a collision course with the authorities. The Government, on its part, seems to be straining every nerve to avoid a confrontation, and to try meet the unions at least half-way. The restraint on the part of the Government may not necessarily be due to altruism. It is also possibly due to the power this particular set of unions wields to make life very immediately difficult to the general public who seek hospital services. What is significant to note at this point of time is that there seems to be a growing inclination on the part of some trade unions, at least, to take advantage of the bargaining power they may hold due to their role in providing essential public services, in order to resort to 'quick fix' strike initiatives in the hope of raking in not just higher pay but various other privileges - including such issues as the right to wear certain kinds of uniforms (a campaign some time ago by hospital attendants). The tradition of trade union practice includes striking work as a means of 'last resort'. Given the loss of income union members suffer during a strike, a strike was never regarded as something desirable but as something that is to be avoided as far as possible. Traditionally, workers struck work only when every other avenue of negotiation, bargaining and arbitration has been exhausted. The right to strike however is a basic human right that has been internationally recognised. It is a fundamental right that must be upheld, especially in a world where big business increasingly holds sway over most sectors of production and the squeezing of maximum profit out of labour productivity is the basic rationale of the economic system. If business has the right to squeeze the maximum profits out of labour, then labour must have the right to withhold that labour in the process of bargaining for its own - if limited - share of the economic pie. But workers withhold their labour at their peril - in terms of the loss of income during a strike. They may also permanently damage their source of income if strikes push the business enterprise into bankruptcy. These are all reasons why strikes should always remain the last resort. And this is why there has evolved over more than a century of industrial capitalism an elaborate system of management-labour negotiation and a carefully legislated process of arbitration. Today, there are possibilities, in some global industries, for such arbitration to go up to the international level. And both trade unions and managements have evolved a sophisticated culture of negotiation, bargaining and arbitration. Indeed, there is a veritable ancillary industry of legal consultancy and other expertise that serves both labour and capital in this regard. All this is in the best interest of both society and the economy. In this process, the wildcat strike is a major spoiler. So is the resort to anti-union legal manipulation and thuggery. In the long term neither labour nor capital can afford this. Successive Governments as well as business managements are known to have resorted to legal manipulations and physical intimidation in efforts to crush trade union actions - sometimes even before any attempt to strike has been made. Sri Lanka's human rights record in relation to labour rights has been besmirched by such behaviour. But neither has the trade union sector been innocent in its own conduct of labour-management relations. The question that arises is whether the union leaderships that indulge in such wildcat strikes are doing so with any awareness of the tremendous damage they are inflicting to the whole, carefully built-up edifice of labour-management relations. A breakdown of this edifice will only drive managements towards crude anti-labour actions. Neither side needs this in Sri Lanka today. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
