CFL says Retirement Age Bill, a bold step
View(s):The Ceylon Federation of Labour (CFL) has welcomed the Minimum Retirement Age of Workers (60 years) Bill gazetted on October 10 saying it is a bold move to update the labour law of the country in the interests of its working people, especially those in non-permanent employment who constitute the overwhelming majority in the labour force.
Estimates show that a mere 24 percent of workers enjoy permanent status. For the first time, the Bill provides a clear, precise, coherent and definitive interpretation to the different employment categories such as casual, temporary, fixed-term etc. This itself is a major achievement, the CFL said in a statement.
Another provision in the Bill that deserves commendation is the requirement that an employer dissatisfied with a decision of the Commissioner General of Labour (CGL) while being able to make an application to the Court of Appeal (CA) has to furnish a cash security to the CGL to cover the compensation payments orders with respect to the affected worker. Furthermore, the CA is not permitted to entertain such an application unless it is accompanied by a certificate of the CGL confirming that the applicant has furnished the required cash security. This provision will mitigate the travails of the worker in seeking relief and is to be welcomed. The trade union movement should seek to consolidate and improve on these advances and resist against attempts by reaction to scuttle what has been gained, the CFL said.
“Notwithstanding these achievements, we regret to find that the real purpose of a retirement age is lost as the Bill fails to live up to the Government’s budgetary proposal of extending the retirement age of all workers covered under the EPF Act. Whilst Section 2 of the Bill appears to make all employers seem liable, Section 3 exempts those employing less than 15 employees. Further, as is evident from Schedule II of the Bill that many in employment covered by the EPF Act are excluded,” it said.
The CFL reiterates its position that a retirement age should have national coverage to be really meaningful and need to apply to all enterprises, occupations, trades, classes and categories of employment. Such a national retirement age should be linked to a universal old age pension to make it an acceptable strategy for providing for a contented retirement as research has shown that an old age pension scheme is both feasible and affordable in Sri Lanka. “Instead of lining up with such a cause, some trade unions are pursuing a short-sighted policy of tying forever the worker to the capitalist yoke by calling for extended work life and thereby introduce karoshi (death by overwork) in Sri Lanka. The CFL stands firmly for a retired life for workers with provisions for income security as we consider retirement as an important stage in a working person’s life. We believe that the absence of such a proposal in the present Bill is its main weakness,” it said.
In the computation of wages for the purpose of determining compensation, the totality of earnings which are liable for EPF should be taken into account, the CFL added.