An estimated 40,000 workers have been laid off and some 50 garment factories have put up shutters in the past six months.
But trade union leaders claim that unscrupulous apparel industry elements were blowing up the global recession to trim down on concessions given to the workers.
Joint Apparels Association Forum President Ajith Dias said more and more factories were either reducing staff or closing down because of the effects of the global recession. "More than 50 factories have put up shutters, and an estimated 40,000 workers have already been laid off but the unions are not willing to accept this reality,” Mr. Dias said.
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| Garment factory workers facing job cuts |
"In comparison to other countries the local apparel industry is quite healthy at the moment but things could change for the worse in a month or two,” he warned.
Mr. Dias charged that union leaders were living in “Cuckoo Land” and should not be taken seriously.
"The apparel industry is facing one of its biggest crises, and the unions just do not seem to realize that,” he said.
Union leaders, however, claimed apparel factory owners were blowing up the global recession to drastically reduce benefits given to employees. "This is a cunning ploy of the factory owners to reap more personal profits at the expense of the poor workers," Free Trade Zones & General Services Union Secretary Anton Marcus said.
'The so-called global meltdown has yet to affect the local apparel industry. The orders are still there and the industry looks healthy still. However some garment factory owners are spreading scare stories to create panic and show a bleak picture to their workers while they gain in a personal capacity,” he said.
Mr. Marcus accused the Labour Commissioner of being indifferent towards this issue which had affected thousands of workers.
He said that n desperation, the union had now appealed to President Mahinda Rajapaksa to intervene.
Palitha Athukorale, President of the Progressive Union, echoed a similar view.
He said garment factory owners were projecting a false crisis situation with the aim of persuading the government to amend worker-friendly laws, such as gratuity payments.
He said that to avoid workers unrest, factory owners cunningly announce the closure of the factory for a week, citing some reason or other and allow the workers to go on leave for this period. However when the workers reported back after a week, they found the factory closed and the owners missing.
In response, Labour Comissioner W.J.L.U. Wijeweera hit out at the union leaders, saying they were opportunists with zero facts on the actual situation in the apparel industry. "This is not the appropriate time to bring out labour disputes and related issues, when the garment trade is finding it difficult to survive with the ongoing global crisis," Mr. Wijeweera said.
He denied allegations that certain garment owners were blowing up the recession issue to cut down on benefits to their employees.
However, the commissioner could not give an exact count on the number of workers laid-off or whether they had been paid their proper dues.
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