Nothing has changed

• 'Give us some respect'

Anew generation of girls is at work. Employed at both Free Trade Zones and other BOI approved factories, they leave their homes seeking jobs with the same goals and dreams as their predecessors had some twenty years ago when the FTZs were first set up. They dream of a better life after a few years of hard work, better facilities and greater social acceptance.

But overall, their social status, working and living conditions have changed little.

Studies have shown that poverty is the main factor that drives these young women from rural areas to jobs away from their families and familiar surroundings. But the problems they have to confront in their new places of work and their surroundings are still acute.

According to Jagath Wellawatte, Lecturer at the Sociology Department of the Colombo University, lack of facilities at boarding houses, tough rules in most factories, sexual harassment by superiors and other forms of victimization are among the main problems the girls encounter. And although subsequent governments have promised to improve their lot, the promises remain confined to election time.

Mr.Wellawatte who conducted an in-depth study of the social and economic factors that affected the girls employed at the FTZ in Katunayake found that despite their seemingly easy-going, carefree attitude, they work and live under tremendous mental pressure.

Kanthi, 19, from Giriulla has been working in a garment factory for the past two years. She started work soon after her O/L examination, mainly to earn an income of her own and experience life outside her village.

She lives in a room with three other girls, where facilities leave much to be desired. They share one toilet with the four members of the household and cook their own food. Each girl pays Rs. 400 a month. But Kanthi is happy with the facilities although they are wholly inadequate especially for a young girl who requires a little privacy.

The girls seem to prefer to stay in private boarding houses even though facilities are poor. So much so that when the government opened a boarding house with better facilities, very few patronized it and just months after opening, it was forced to close down.

The reason for this Dr. Wellawatte says, is that the girls living away from home for the first time, have begun to savour an unrestricted lifestyle. They have no rules in their boarding houses whereas in the state-run hostels several restrictions are imposed on them - such as how late they can stay out at night.

But living conditions apart, the gravest problem the girls face is the harsh conditions in their workplaces. Jayanthi Dandeniya who runs a tabloid which publishes the views of the girls employed in the FTZ, says that their most frequent complaint is the harassment they suffer at the hands of their superiors.

"Our office is flooded with letters from girls pouring out their grievances about their superiors. Most of the letters are unprintable because of the language they use," Ms. Dandeniya explained.

Although there are several non-governmental organizations that work with these girls, many girls are ignorant of their basic rights. There are numerous cases of summary dismissal of employees for trivial issues that in most other institutions would merely warrant a warning letter. In certain factories, they are docked Rs. 25 from their salary for each minute they are late and in addition forced to make up the lost time by working overtime. In others, the workers are forced to meet unrealistic manufacturing targets, failure of which brings verbal abuse. In some places, they are even punished for speaking loudly or laughing.

Jayantha, 31, was employed at an electronics factory run with BOI approval for nine years until June this year when, on the grounds that she had disobeyed a superior, her employment was terminated.

"I refused to do something that my supervisor asked me to do as I knew it was wrong. This was on a Saturday. When I came to work on Monday, I was given a letter saying I had been suspended," she said.

Subsequently, a disciplinary inquiry was held and she was sacked. Jayantha says she was not allowed to tell her side of the story and that her superiors concocted a story saying she had threatened to kill the supervisor and lodged a compliant with the police against her. Now she is out of work and unsure whether to return to her home in Padaviya or seek employment elsewhere.

Jayantha's case is no exception but a frequent occurrence among the factory employed girls, according to Ms. Dandeniya. "They (the employers) find it easier to recruit new people on a lower salary. When they want to sack someone, they concoct some false charge and throw them out. There is little redress for these workers," she said.

The majority of complaints lodged by the employees of the FTZ and factories in the surrounding area is taken up at the Negombo Labour Tribunal. In the first ten months of this year, more than 18,000 complaints had been made at an average of 1600 a month, an official at the Tribunal said.

Most complainants were workers seeking compensation for loss of employment by the sudden closure of factories as well as problems related to their salaries, leave and other personal matters, the official said. Last month, an additional Labour Tribunal had to be opened in Negombo to cope with the increasing number of complaints being lodged.

The Board of Investment (BOI) is the body that also looks into complaints made against the employers. "We always look into complaints made by the workers and try to intervene but there are attempts by the owners to cover up the shortcomings in some factories," sources at the BOI said.

There are also numerous complaints regarding the poor working environment within factories such as high levels of noise and poor ventilation which can cause long term health problems to the workers. But the all-important Industrial Safety Unit of the BOI has been closed since 1999, The Sunday Times learns.

However, the Chairman of the FTZ Manufacturers' Association Neil Umagiliya said that conditions in the FTZ factories were 100 per cent satisfactory, when you take into consideration the working conditions in the country.

"Without a doubt I can say working conditions are good and we are on par with the international standard," he said. He added that with over 60,000 employees in the Zone, there will always be the odd complaint.

In recent years, facilities for workers have substantially improved in some factories where high standards are maintained but these are few and far between, most social service organisations that work with the employees point out.

An emerging factor in the FTZs, especially Katunayake, in recent months is the large number of vacancies in factories. According to a BOI official there are at least 12,000 vacancies at the export processing zones as well as other BOI approved factories. The main reason for this shortage of workers is the opening up of more factories all over the country including in rural areas thus allowing women to find work closer home.

The emergence of factories that provide workers with facilities of a high standard and improved working conditions in recent years has also meant that most experienced workers have sought and found employment in these, leaving the ones with inferior facilities with a shortage of workers.

Mr.Wellawatte says this is a positive development and there is hope that with the growing demand for workers, factory owners would be forced to give the workers a better deal and create an environment where they can work with dignity.

'Give us some respect'

Anyone visiting the FTZ areas in Katunayake, the largest export promotion zone in the country employing nearly 60,000 workers, (85 per cent of whom are females between the ages of 18-26), can see the hordes of young men who gather at the time the factories close, around 5.00 - 5.30 in the evening. The girls are quite helpless when confronted by their wolf whistles and blatant advances. Most girls were angered by this attitude and felt that they were being given little credit for their contribution to the country's economy.

They were especially angry about the references to them as "kalé kello", "sannali" (weaver) and other demeaning terms. "We should be treated with the same respect afforded to other working women. If we are seen talking to a man, we are called fast, but there are thousands of young men and women, like those studying in the universities, who are seen together, but no one says anything about them," they said.

According to Mr. Wellawatte, the aim of most girls who come for employment at the factories is to save a little money by working for about five years and then get married. And, studies have shown that in most instances the majority do go on to have a reasonably good life. 

But as no comprehensive study has yet been done on the women who return to their villages after being employed at these factories, it is not clear whether they continue with some form of self - employment or become dependent on their husband's income.