The Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC) has asked the government to allow factories to cut down the five-and-a-half working days to five days - with one extra hour of work during the five working days.
The EFC is also asking for “short-term lay-off of workers.” Both measures are to help factories cope with sudden reductions in export orders, due to the global recession.
“We have submitted a request to the National Labour Advisory Council, for greater flexibility in labour laws. This is to allow manufacturers to adjust to a drop in demand without having to shut down or resort to large scale lay-offs,” the Director General of the EFC, Ravi Peiris told the Sunday Times FT.
With export orders reducing, some local factories are already finding it difficult to operate the standard 45 hours of work per week. So far the most affected are garment factories. However, the EFC says other sectors will also have to face lower orders as the global recession deepens. Therefore, the EFC is asking for at least temporary provisions for labour-law flexibility.
“We have requested for these provisions at least until end of 2009. The garment industry is asking for this kind of flexibility already, but other export sectors will also have to consider these options when the impacts of the global recession gets worse,” said Mr Peiris.
5-day work-week
For starters, the EFC is asking that factories be allowed, if required, to close on Saturdays but operate one extra hour during week days. “We are asking that factories be given the option of a five-day work-week. That is, to be able to incorporate the Saturday half-day of work (five hours), into the week. This means adding one extra work hour per day, during the five days of Monday to Friday,” said Mr Peiris. The EFC says the added work hour during week days should be considered part of the standard work-week and should not be treated as overtime work.
However, trade unions say an additional work hour should count as over time. This is mainly because basic salaries are so low in Sri Lanka that given the cost of living, workers will not be able to live on their basic wages.
Trade unions point out that workers earn a bearable income mainly by doing over time. However, employers do not want to increase basic salaries either.
Under Sri Lankan labour laws, a standard work day is eight hours. Workers clock-in 45 standard working hours per week, by working 40 hours per week and five hours on Saturday. Overtime comes on top of these standard work hours.
However, now, with export orders dropping, the EFC says even the standard half day of work on Saturday, is translating into a large unrecoverable overhead for factories. “The cost savings of not operating a Saturday-half-day will be huge. Factories can save on electricity and transport. The savings on energy will cut costs for the entire country,” said Mr Peiris.
Short-term lay-off
The EFC is also calling for provisions to allow temporary worker lay-offs when factories do not have enough work, instead of shutting down factories.
“The retrenchment procedures are specified under the Termination Act. But this is drastic step. Some factories may only need to lay-off workers for a short period, until orders improve. So we are requesting for labour law flexibility to allow short-term lay offs,” said Mr Peiris.
However, trade unions feel this could encourage factories to get rid of workers without paying them any compensation at all. Trade unions point out that in Sri Lanka, factories have shut down secretly, after sending workers home during the weekend, and without even informing the authorities. |
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