The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations – better known as AFL-CIO – has charged several top companies operating in the country’s Export Processing Zones (EPZs) with routinely violating internationally recognised worker rights.
The charges are contained in a petition filed by the AFL-CIO in support of a move to stop Sri Lanka from continuing to be a beneficiary of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) status before the United States Trade Representative.
Companies named in the petition include Smart Shirts Lanka Ltd; Brandix Finishing Ltd; New Design Manufacturing Ltd; G. P. Garment (Pvt) Ltd; Workwear Lanka, and Ceyenergy Electronic (PVT) Ltd. Two companies, Alitex (Pvt) Ltd and Star Garments, were named as having sufficiently resolved their problems and therefore taken off the list.
A Brandix spokesman told the Sunday Times that the petition was based on trade union complaints made more than two years ago, and that Brandix had forwarded a formal response at the time. “The allegations are old, the petition is being looked into only now,” the spokesman said.
The Sunday Times understands that other companies named have similarly responded to the petition.
“In many cases,” the AFL-CIO petition alleges, “union officers and members are suspended, demoted or terminated, and many have been the victims of violent assault. In other cases, employers have promoted non-union employees councils as a way to avoid or to weaken unions.”
The petition went on to say that employers frequently failed to pay into the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), and urged employers that had down-sized or closed down factories to pay workers the wages due to them.
“When complaints of labour violations are brought before the appropriate governmental authorities, unions allege that employers rarely attend the hearings and, when they do, they frequently violate the terms of settlements and/or arbitration awards with impunity,” the petition said.
The Sri Lanka government has been reluctant to enforce the law, the petition says, adding that management-controlled “employees’ councils” constitute one of the biggest problems at EPZ factories.
“The Sri Lankan government continues to allow the BoI [Board of Investment] employees’ councils to take root and spread unimpeded by the enforcement of national laws,” the petition says.
“The BoI has previously argued that workers’ councils are evidence that freedom of 22 association and collective bargaining are respected in the EPZs. To the contrary, workers’ councils are management-dominated. It is management that chooses most workers’ council representatives and stacks the councils with supervisors and office-based (rather than shop floor) workers.
“Also, management sets the schedules and agendas for meetings and limits discussions to marginal workplace issues, avoiding wages, hours and most conditions of work.”
In addition, managements have used employees’ councils to thwart unionisation efforts, the petition says. In some cases, management refuses to recognise the nascent union, and instead “bargains” directly with the employees’ council, as if the body were the legitimate representative body of the workers.
“In other cases, management will offer benefits to workers’ council members if they do not join the union, or threaten members of the workers’ councils if they do.”
The petition cited the case of Work Wear Lanka, which “went so far as to register the workers council as a union – an application that was approved by the government.”
Unions have reported the recent use of workers councils to frustrate internationally recognizsd worker rights in several factories, including Synotex Lanka pvt Ltd and Star Garments Factory.
The use of workers’ councils to subvert the will of workers to form a union is a clear violation of the right to organize and bargain collectively, the petition says.
“The EPZs are under the purview of the Board of Investment, which has its own Industrial Relations Department, under a Director of Industrial Relations. The BoI also has the autonomy to establish its own rules and standards. This fact, taken together with the fact that labour inspectors under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labour cannot make unannounced visits to workplaces inside EPZs, substantially reduces the frequency and effectiveness of inspections,” the petition says.
The existence of separate industrial relations under the BoI continues to be prejudicial to the interests of workers. “It is important to note too that the BoI’s Chairman has always been a prominent business leader,” the petition says. “Thus, important governmental functions have been turned over to the private sector, which is less likely to recognise and guarantee the rights of workers in the zones.”
The unions have long called for the abolition of the BoI labour inspectorate and for putting the responsibility for inspections under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labour.
The petition notes that it is very difficult for anyone, even a labour inspector, to enter an EPZ.
“Anyone who seeks to enter the zone must present his or her national identity card at the gate and state the purpose of his visit to BoI security. Security will then call the factory to determine whether entry to the zone may be granted. If allowed, then a pass is issued and the vehicle may enter. All entrants must pay a fee of Rs. 60.”
The AFL-CIO is the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers. |
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