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| Sunday, 20 July 2003 |
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Streamline holiday calendar -CNCI The Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI) has made a proposal to the Government to streamline Sri Lanka's holiday calendar by introducing two weeks of holidays during April and December instead of the present indefinite holiday schedule. This will result in all manufacturing establishments being shut down and employees using their annual entitlement together with the statutory holidays to go on vacation. "We have submitted these proposals to the Minister of Employment and Labour Mahinda Samarasinghe, who is very positive about them. If we can initially implement it in the private sector and extend it to the public sector after an evaluation period of one year, it will help increase productivity as well," said President CNCI Rangith Hettiarachchy. In addition to power shortages and power cuts experienced frequently, and a multitude of other social and political factors, the unmatched number of holidays and non-working days in the country hamper industrial production, trade and business, import and export sectors and the administrative structure as well, thus adversely affecting productivity. "Sri Lanka tops the list where public holidays are concerned in the region or perhaps in the whole world. One could imagine the opposition that may arise from trade unions and other pressure groups if public holidays are to be curtailed. However, it is imperative that the Government restructures the annual holiday calendar without being complacent about sentimental factors. After all, it is the duty of the Government to appraise the people on how the benefits of higher productivity could filter down to the people directly and indirectly. The industrial sector is positive that enterprises would show remarkable progress with a streamlined holiday calendar," he said. Presently, apart from 104 non-working days (Saturdays and Sundays), the Sri Lankan working community enjoys an average of 25 public, bank and mercantile holidays. It is in the best interest of the country that amendments are made to the Shop and Office Act and other relevant legislation which governs private sector holiday entitlements in line with some of the developing countries in Asia such as China, Singapore and Malaysia where they have one stretch of holidays during the national festival, the Chinese New Year. It was reported that the Chinese 'golden week', a long stretch of holidays which commences on May 1, was curtailed this year to catch up with the production loss which occurred due to the SARS epidemic, an example that should be followed by us. In almost all European countries, the stretch of holidays is taken in summer and no one is inconvenienced by the annual shut-down, as all are on vacation. For example, Hettiarachchy said, if the proposed system had been implemented by April this year, and the private sector establishments were closed for business officially taking the advantage of the two statutory holidays for the New Year and only two days of annual entitlement, the 16th week of the calendar would have been a holiday week. Again in December this year, if one uses the statutory holidays together with six days of individual annual entitlement, private sector employees could avail themselves of a holiday stretching 10 days from December 22 to 31. Private sector employees will still be left with five days of unutilised leave, which they could use for other personal needs. All employees will be on leave together and there will be no loss or retardation in production; local or export production planning could be done in advance, taking into consideration the proposed one time shut-down; production and delivery schedules will remain unchanged and the danger of unplanned delays in manufacturing and delivery could be avoided, which may result in heavy losses and even loss of business; no production losses or idle labour resulting from staff availing themselves of their leave entitlements at random as per their wishes due to the indefinite holiday schedule; regular annual maintenance of manufacturing units could be scheduled during the proposed holiday stretch which will help minimise the loss of production due to machinery breakdowns; employees get an opportunity to enjoy two stretches of national holidays in the company of their families, thus promoting good family life; families could plan ahead for their annual family excursions, picnics, etc; direct and indirect benefits to local tourism and business. "Therefore, it is our view that a streamlined and preplanned annual holiday structure would improve productivity in the private sector especially in the manufacturing sector, help reduce absenteeism, which currently averages between 7 to 12 per cent and improve business turnover and profitability, thus contributing more towards the growth of the economy," the CNCI said. |
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