Ansell workers in Sri Lanka on strike against lawlessness
Sri Lanka’s majority of multi-national company employers operating in free trade zones in the island are constantly violating labour laws preventing the right of workers to join legitimate trade unions for bargaining and negotiations, a trade union leader told a media conference in Colombo on Thursday.
On paper, the country’s labour laws are extremely favourable for workers. But in reality it is much different. Pro-worker labour law provisions are not implemented properly by the government and also it is not adhered to by employers, said the Secretary f the Free Trade Zones and General services Employees Union (FTZ & GSEU) Anton Marcus.
Employers and the police routinely harass and intimidate workers who make the slightest attempt to form unions, he said.
A recent workers dispute at the Ansell Lanka Pvt. Ltd in the Biyagama Export Processing Zone and their subsequent strike had been triggered by the sacking of 11 employees including the president of the trade union and some office bearers unlawfully.The charges against them were the forming of a trade union and making representations against the newly appointed Human Resources Manager who has introduced a strict target scheme for the production section and harassed and intimidated workers, he disclosed.
He said that the female workers had been asked to make 60 pairs of surgical gloves per minute during a 5-hour shift.
The most recent protest began when the company management unilaterally decided to increase production targets and the use of contract workers supplied by manpower agencies.
Nearly 1,000 workers at Ansell Lanka Pvt. Ltd. in Sri Lanka have been on strike since 11th October.
He said President Mahinda Rajapaksa has directed Deputy Investment Promotion Minister Faizer Musthafa to intervene in the matter but so far nothing has happened.
A senior official of the company who wished to be anonymous said that the services of these workers had been terminated on grounds of misconduct. He declined further comment on other issues as the matter is before the courts.
Trade union branch President Athula Sampath said their demand was for legitimate trade union rights and they will fight on till the end like the previous workers struggle against the Ansell Lanka Company where the police attacked a peaceful demonstration by workers in 1994 killing one of their workers.
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