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Trade unions see privatisation agenda in three labour bills
By Harinda Vidanage
Expressing fears that the three new labour bills presented to parliament on Tuesday were aimed at wholesale privatisation of state institutions, leading trade unions are charging that the bills have been presented without their consent.

Veteran trade union leader Bala Tampoe who heads the strongest private sector trade union, the CMU, charged that Labour Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe referred the bills to the trade unions just one day before they were presented to parliament.

"How can the unions review the bill in one day?" Mr. Tampoe asked.

The three bills - the Industrial Disputes (Hearing and Determination of proceedings) Bill, the Industrial Disputes (Amendment) Bill and the Termination of employment (Special Provisions) Amendment bill - have come under fire from five leading trade unions.

The five trade unions - the Ceylon Bank Employees Union, the Ceylon Mercantile Industrial & General Workers Union, the United Federation of Labour, the Central Council of Ceylon Trade Unions and the Free Trade Zones Workers Labour Union - last Friday boycotted the National Labour Advisory Council meeting chaired by Minister Samarasinghe while three other unions staged a walk out after making brief statements.

He said he feared that in four years time, more than half the FTZ workers would lose their jobs with the garment quota system being scrapped under the World Trade Organisation laws. Under the provisions of one of the new bills - the Termination of Employment Special Provisions (Amendment) bill - these employees would have limited legal remedy and would be forced to accept whatever the compensation the employer offered.

Mr. Tampoe said that the state should take measures to ensure the employment of the labour force instead of contributing towards creating an unemployment crisis. He warned that if the state failed to heed their advice, they would organise protests campaigns and petition the International Labour Organization.

Mr. Tampoe also expressed concern about the time frame envisaged in the Termination of Employment Special Provisions (Amendment) bill for the settlement of labour disputes.

"The proposed time limits are three months for Labour Tribunals, two months for arbitration and a month for Commissioner General level inquiries. This is impractical since there are already 15,000 labour cases pending before 24 labour courts," the CMU leader said.

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