COLOMBO - When garment factory workers outside Colombo once organized a noisy
protest over a bonus issue, police threatened to file charges - of
hostage-taking - against them. The Sri Lankan authorities zeroed in on this
because the workers' senior managers were inside the factory premises during
the protest.
Hostage-taking is worlds away from labor-related action, but rights advocates
say this example, which occurred five years ago, shows the state's approach to
workers' rights.
Amid international pressure, the government last year changed plans to use the
hostage-taking law against the workers involved in this case. Instead,
indictments were filed under regular laws
around intimidation and threats against 35 former employees, 33 of whom are
women.
"This is the kind of pressure we face in ensuring the rights of workers. Can
you believe that these young women were to be charged for hostage-taking?"
asked Anton Marcus, convener of the Free Trade Zone and General Services
Employees Union.
Trade unions have long complained about the government's refusal to accede to
International Labor Organization (ILO) rules on the Right of Association and
the Right to Collective Bargaining in the Workplace.
On June 30, the US government said it had accepted a petition from trade
unions, filed by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial
Organizations (AFL-CIO) on behalf of Sri Lankan trade unions, to review
workers' rights in the country.
The US action is linked to its annual review of the US Generalized System of
Preferences (GSP), in which Sri Lanka and other countries receive trade
concessions on exports to the United States. The current 12-month GSP agreement
runs until December 2010.
This adds to the pressure the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is
already under. It comes on the heels of human-rights concerns expressed by the
European Union, which has linked these to its trade concessions for the South
Asian island nation.
A July 1 deadline set by the EU, asking the government to give a written
undertaking that it will improve rights concerns, passed without a response
from Colombo.
According to Marcus, one of the main complaints in the trade unions' petition
to the US government was the difficulty in forming unions and having collective
bargaining agreements between workers and employers.
For instance, he says, there are only four such agreements among the 300-odd
factories in the garment sector, a key source of export revenue. Three of them
are from one company, he said. "What about the rest of the garment sector?"
Marcus asked.
The lack of space for organizing also means that workers can get fired for
protesting employers' actions, such as the suspension of trade union activists.
This happened in the case of 255 garment workers who protested a colleague's
dismissal some years ago.
"There are clear rules about not sacking workers taking part in a strike but
this is not observed," Marcus said.
Under the US government review of workers' rights, a public hearing will begin
in Washington in August.
The government has been invited to take part. Labor Minister Gamini Lokuge told
Inter Press Service that he had not received a copy of the AFL-CIO petition,
but rejected claims of major violations of workers' rights.
Ravi Peiris, secretary general of the Employers' Federation of Ceylon, which
represents the bulk of Sri Lankan business, agreed, saying the US review was
baseless and unnecessary.
"Most [local] trade unions were politically affiliated and some misuse their
bargaining power for incorrect reasons," Peiris told the Daily Mirror
newspaper. "Sri Lanka's labor rights are the best protected in South Asia. I
can say with certainty that our labor standards are the best in South Asia."
US statements have said that the government's acceptance of the AFL-CIO
petition was not a decision to revoke GSP.
"It is the beginning of a formal, collaborative process to work with the Sri
Lankan government to address the concerns in the petition and work to improve
support of and adherence to workers' rights," said Jeff Anderson, US Embassy
spokesman in Colombo. "GSP privileges will continue throughout the process."
United States officials took pains to say that the labor review was about
workers' rights and not about human rights linked to political issues, although
it is clear that Sri Lanka's overall rights record is under scrutiny.
Washington has also raised human-rights issues in the past.
"It's an issue about workers' rights and not human rights," Anderson said.
For its part, the EU has made clear that it is tying trade privileges with
measures that it believes Sri Lanka needs to put in place to improve its rights
record since its military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May
2009.
It has said that in return for a six-month extension of GSP concessions to the
European market, it wants to see Colombo undertake steps such as the
reinstatement of independent commissions, removal of the Prevention of
Terrorism Act and the release of political prisoners. The Rajapaksa government
has rejected these earlier.
On July 1, the EU said it supported a new United Nations panel to review the
human rights situation in the country.
The defeat of the Tigers ended a near 30-year campaign for an independent
homeland for minority Tamils in this majority Sinhalese nation. Since then,
Rajapaksa has come under intense international pressure over human-rights
violations, especially relating to the final stages of the war. He has
repeatedly denied these accusations.
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
