FTZ union urges PM to help set up PCR testing at Katunayake FTZ

A major trade union representing workers in Sri Lanka’s free trade zones has urged Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to help set up PCR testing facilities at the Katunayake FTZ, saying an association of employers there has agreed to fund this facility.
The request was made by Anton Marcus, Joint Secretary of the Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees Union in a letter to the PM on Monday (October 19).
The letter said that the Manufacturers’ Association at the Katunayake FTZ had offered to establish a PCR testing Unit immediately for the FTZ and is still awaiting approval from the Ministry of Health.
“We fail to understand why this offer had not been immediately endorsed by the Health Ministry and approvals are delayed, when health authorities are overburdened with the present rapid spread that keeps increasing on a daily basis. The inability to immediately test all employees in the Katunayake FTZ allows for continued spread, not among only employees but among many others in areas they reside as lodgers as well,” the letter said.
Where there are news reports quoting government sources that reports of PCR tests done are delayed by over 48 hours due to the heavy load there is now, it would be for the advantage of all, to approve the offer by the Katunayake Manufacturers’ Association to immediately establish a PCR testing unit, it said.
The union letter said that there is also the issue of BOI officials completely neglecting the decision taken by the Tri-partite Task Force at the Labour Ministry to carry out disinfection of all lodgings occupied by FTZ workers, as a preventive measure. These lapses have already caused an unwanted spread of the COVID-19 virus in the Katunayake area, for which the Board of Investment (BOI) should be held responsible.
It appealed to the PM to intervene in the matter and provide approval for the very opportune and responsible offer by Katunayake Manufacturers’ Association to establish a PCR testing Unit in Katunayake for the FTZ and; instruct the BOI to begin disinfecting all lodgings occupied by FTZ workers. “We also, believe you would make arrangements to have other FTZs and industrial parks replicate these measures in advance, to prevent any further spread to other parts of the country,” the letter said.