Govt. proposes unified employment law
The Government is going ahead with a new unified employment law gradually replacing 54 archaic labour legislations currently in force, the Labour and Trade Union Relations Ministry revealed.
The unified employment law which is yet to be made public, as a draft, was presented to the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) last Tuesday without any discussions.
The draft was prepared under USAID supervision by private legal consultants.
Welcoming the government’s initiative, Employers federation of Ceylon (EFC) Director General /CEO Kanishka Weerasinghe told the Business Times that “we need to keep pace with the developments that are taking place in relation to the ‘world of work’, including the many avenues that are being created through the development of technology”.
The EFC will fully support a process that will bring the country’s labour laws up to date, he said, adding that “we desperately need to implement reforms that will include what employers have sought for a long period of time”.
Irrespective of their ideological point of view, trade unions strongly contest the proposed labour legislation that the employers claim as progressive and which the ruling party is expected to get parliament’s nod before Presidential elections this year.
All member trade unions in the NLAC have opposed this effort in devising a new “single labour law” with direct USAID assistance, Anton Marcus, Joint Secretary of Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees Union, said.
The 54 labour legislations including the Wages Board Ordinance No.27 of 1941, the Factories Ordinance No.45 of 1942, Shop and Office Employees Act No.19 of 1954, Maternity Benefit Ordinance, and Factories Ordinance will be revised and combined into a single employment law.
The total content of this proposed law is about providing the employer the legal right to decide all terms and conditions of employment in the private sector.
Wages Boards are to be scrapped giving the employer the right to decide on minimum wage irrespective of the trade or industry, he said.
A working day to be not more than 12 hours in a 45 hour work-week that allows employer to limit work to four working days with no wages for the other three days including Sunday.
Gratuity for workers have also been severely restricted and the Termination Act No. 45 of 1971 is to be repealed allowing the employer to dismiss workers as the employer wish, perhaps even without any disciplinary inquiry.