Employers, unions to meet on GSP+

Employers and trade unions are meeting on Tuesday, May 13 to discuss the GSP+ scheme which most stakeholders believe may not be extended by the European Union owing to reasons including non enforcement of some international conventions.

The meeting called by the Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC) comes just as trade unions begin to flex their muscles saying the government and the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF), the apex body of garment manufacturers, have failed to include workers via trade unions in the discussion process.

“The two parties have failed to bring us to the table. Global unions which have a consultative status in the EU have been asking us what’s going vis-à-vis GSP+ and in this context we urge the government and the employers to consider us as a stakeholder and let’s all get together and resolve this issue,” noted Anton Marcus, General Secretary of the Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees Union.

However he warned: “Our involvement will be conditional, as a roadmap that was prepared with our input after the 2005 GSP+ was given hasn’t been implemented. We need some solid assurances that this would be implemented.” He was echoing a view expressed by Julian Wilson, head of the EC delegation to Sri Lanka, who has repeatedly said at various forums in Colombo that the continuation of the GSP+ depends on how well the Sri Lankan government implements the 27 international conventions on human rights, labour rights and environmental standards.

“It is totally based on fulfilling these conventions. This (review) is a technical exercise on compliance with these conventions. This means not just having the laws, but also implementing them,” Wilson was quoted as saying at one of the events.
Trade unions, at a press conference this week called to announce the visit of Jeff Vogt, Global Economic Policy Specialist, Legislation Department –AFLCIO, a US-based group representing workers rights, also brought a new dimension to the debate – the US GSP and fears that this too could be lost.

They said the US GSP is up for review in June and expressed concern that the same issues raised over workers’ rights, etc may jeopardize the continuation of this pact too, though it wouldn’t be the garments’ industry that would suffer.

The US GSP provides duty free access to some 3,400 items of exports from Sri Lanka and 130 countries. According to the latest available figures, exports from Sri Lanka under GSP for the January-September 2007 period was $116 million against $143.6 million for the whole of 2006 and $137.4 million in 2005. However this represented a small percentage of total Sri Lankan exports to the US because the predominant export is textiles and apparels which are excluded from such concessions.Vogt told reporters that he was concerned about the level of labour standards in Sri Lanka. “My visit is to see whether Sri Lanka is applying labour standards. We have some serious concerns here and improvements are required.

I heard many stories of forced labour (being asked to work long hours) and health issues while third party complaints is a new tool being used to frustrate workers,” he said, raising questions as to whether the US will follow the EU route in asking that international conventions on labour standards be implemented in Sri Lanka as a precursor to a continuation of these concessions.

Tuesday’s meeting will be the second time in six years that employers and unions are seriously coming together to work for a common cause.

When JAAF was formed in 2002 to prepare for the phasing out of the Multi Fibre Agreement, unions were drawn into the discussion and some common ground established. The relationship however soured after that.

Trade unions and opposition parties, who have also expressed concern over a possible end to GSP+, say anything between 100,000 to 200,000 workers risk losing their jobs if the GSP+ scheme ends. Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal however says that at some point of time Sri Lanka is bound to lose these concessions, if not now, then later and thus the industry must be prepared for such an eventuality.