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458 employees shut out of Hambantota port; Labour Minister slams port company
View(s):The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) has obtained a court order to prevent workers of the Hambantota Port from entering its premises without prior approval, blocking the access road and impeding the work of the port. The petition was filed in the Hambantota District Court against the Magampura Port Workers’ Union (MPWU), the union Secretary and the Magampura Port Management Company Ltd with the intention of preventing workers from causing harm to property. It was taken up on Thursday before District Judge Manjula Karunaratne who granted the interim order.
The case was filed despite Labour Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne having referred the fate of 458 Hambantota port workers to arbitration. In a gazette published on November 6 (but signed on November 1), 2017, the minister states that an industrial dispute has arisen between the MPWU and the SLPA. He has appointed S Virithamulla of Boralesgamuwa to be the arbitrator for the dispute.
The dispute is stated as whether 458 employees of Magampura Port have been caused injustice by not being absorbed into the Ports Authority in the event of leasing the Port to a Chinese company and, if so, to what reliefs they are entitled. Minister Seneviratne said yesterday that, despite the appointment of an arbitrator, the Magampura Port Management Company (MPMC) had sent an “illegal letter” telling workers not to report to work from November 30, 2017.
“I told them this is wrong because the matter is in arbitration and it is the law that it must be solved through the arbitrator,” he told the Sunday Times.
He said Ports Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe on Friday promised him that the dispute would be solved through arbitration.
Union representatives said yesterday that the MPMC had offered workers a voluntary retirement scheme without notifying the arbitrator. They said the maximum compensation entitlement was around Rs 270,000 while the minimum was as low as Rs 75,000. “Many of our members do not want to agree to anything outside of the arbitration process,” said a union spokesman, adding that they had taken out bank loans and had heavy financial commitments.
Workers met Minister Seneviratne this week and he expressed his support for them. Two discussions, including one in which the SLPA participated, were held. It was firmly conveyed that actions taken in relation to the workforce outside the arbitration process was a violation of labour law.
Meanwhile, the SLPA issued a statement categorically rejecting the allegation that the employment of MPMC workers was terminated. It says the November salaries of all employees were paid “despite attempts by some workers to cause delays in such payment by sabotaging the administration function of MPMC”.
The SLPA said the company would continue to pay salaries till further notice or until steps were taken according to law. “MPMC has clearly and repeatedly given the employees these assurances,” it said. “However, the workers, for reasons best known to them, have continued to engage in illegal and wrongful activities that prejudice the security of the Magampura Port and the general need for law and order in the area.”
There are proceedings before an industrial court to decide on worker entitlements upon MPMC’s closure. “Both SLPA and MPMC will continue to participate in these proceedings,” the SLPA said. “MPMC has also offered to all its employees a ‘voluntary resignation scheme’ with substantially higher compensation than what is required in terms of the law, which a group of employees has already accepted.”
“As is common knowledge, the Magampura Port in its present state is economically non-viable and the State is saddled with heavy debt and debt servicing costs,” the SLPA continued. “As such, the Government took a policy decision to enter into a Public Private Partnership in order to infuse needed investments to the Magampura port to make it financially viable and to reduce public debt.”
To facilitate this, the MPMC–which itself has to service colossal debts to local banks and was substantially reliant on business redirected from Colombo Port–has to hand over the Magmpura port back to SLPA. “It is in these circumstances that MPMC asked its employees not to report to work from the 30th of November 2017,” the statement said. “MPMC has no work to offer but has, nonetheless, assured employees that their salaries will continue to be paid as stated above.”
It was inaccurate and “deliberately misleading to state that SLPA and/or MPMC have acted contrary to the law”. “SLPA will continue to work towards the just resolution of the issues relating to the employees of MPMC while being mindful of the broader national economic interest of the State which in the ultimate should be of concern to all,” the statement concluded.