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Manpower agencies banned from FTZ
Representatives of manpower agencies have been banned from entering Free Trade Zone areas with immediate effect and employers have been warned against providing employment to individuals recruited by them, a top official said.
BOI Chairman Upul Jayasuriya
Board of Investment (BOI) Chairman Upul Jayasuriya said that operations of these manpower agents will no longer be tolerated inside the Zones and employers have been advised to recruit directly.
He said persons who have already been recruited by the manpower agencies will be absorbed into the permanent cadre so that they would be entitled to the same perks enjoyed by the other workers.
Mr. Jayasuriya was speaking at the Asian Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) – an international conference of local and foreign trade union representatives, businesspersons, workers’ rights lobbyists, employees and others attached to the apparel sector held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI).
He added that both President Maithripala Sirisena and Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe had stated that they were working to eradicate manpower agencies throughout the country in a bid to provide a fair deal to the workers.
Palitha Atukorale – AFWA – Sri Lanka Co-coordinator said that at present there are some 30-35,000 workers in the apparel sector who have been recruited by manpower agencies.
He said contractors hired by manpower agencies pick up the recruits from certain collecting centres located in and around the Free Trade Zones in Katunayake and elsewhere and they are later handed over to prospective employers.
“In some cases these workers are rotated from one place to another depending on the requirement of the employers and are paid on a daily or weekly basis.
Anna McMullen
They are therefore not protected by social security schemes and are denied other perks shared by their co-workers in the permanent cadre,” Mr. Atukorale said.
He added that the employers also prefer to deal with the manpower agencies since they bear responsibility for the worker.
Apart from the apparel sector there are another estimated 400,000 workers in other fields who have been recruited by these manpower agencies, Mr. Atukorale said.
Anna McMullen-Police Co-coordinator of ‘Clean Clothes Campaign’ an affiliate of AFWA told the gathering that the Sri Lankan government has to rectify certain issues such as human rights and workers welfare among other matters to regain the GSP facility from the European Union (EU).
The relevant authorities must work towards implementing the Core Conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to which Sri Lanka is a signatory along with many other countries.
“Ratifying the convention alone is not enough. There has to be a collective effort by the state agencies and other stake holders to work towards implementing it at the very earliest and with the fullest transparency,” Ms. McMullen said.