The Ill- conceived policies of the government have resulted in the steady erosion of real wages of workers due to depreciation of the rupee and the consequent fall in its purchasing power.         The trade union demand for a budgetary relief allowance of Rs. 5000/- to cushion the effects of the devaluation of rupee has been frowned upon by the government. Not even minimum wages of private sector employees have been raised and these employees continue to languish with a paltry sum of Rs. 7,500/-  and struggle to make ends meet. The government has readily acquiesced to the pressures of capitalist employers to whom any wage increase to workers represent a burden on the cost of production. This is not an approach expected from a government claming to be worker – friendly. The attitude of the government is to be deplored. The government need to remember that policy induced low wages has the direct result of weakening development effort and is by no means a strategy for economic development.

Workers in pivotal sectors such as the electricity, water and petroleum have succeeded in winning their economic demands by virtue of the strategic position they occupy. The rest, due to lack of organised strength, inter-union rivalry and disunity are unable to pursue their demands. This situation has emboldened capitalist employers to step up their calls for a flexible labour law regime that the Govt.’s Ten Year Development plan promises. The international financial institutions are   urging the government to create the necessary environment for the unhindered flow of FDI.

The Termination of Employment (Special Provisions) Act of 1971 which afforded some measure of job security to workers against involuntary termination has been made a tool in the hands of the employers to get rid of excess labour cheaply on the basis of a formula put in place by the previous UNP government .

Under the guise of employment generation the government is giving in to the pressures of the employers by recognizing the practice of employing contract labour via labour supplying agencies and contractors with little or no guarantee of employment or benefits for such workers. The efforts of the National Labour Advisory Council to discourage this pernicious practice have run into problems due to lack of political commitment on the part of the government . .

The promised repeal of the amendment to the Factories Ordinance introduced by the 2002-2004 UNP Administration making overtime work compulsory too has been conveniently forgotten. This has resulted in serious problems to health of especially female workers in the FTZ who are required to put long and extended hours of work. The demand of the Unions to bring more clarity to the I.D. (Amendment) Act of 2005 regarding recognition of unions and anti- union discrimination had been stalled again due to lack of political commitment    

The de-vesting of public undertakings is being contemplated by employing various subterfuges. Moves to restructure the Ceylon Electricity Board, the Water Board and the Petroleum Corp. under Public / Private Partnership is the first step towards ultimate privatization. These are all in line with the policy prescriptions of lending institutions.

The leave and holiday entitlements presently enjoyed by workers in the private sector are also under threat to appease employers seeking intensified exploitation of workers in their quest for increased profit .

There are moves to deprive plantation workers of their service gratuity.

Industrial relations in the public sector depend on political patronage and there is no independent dispute settlement mechanism in the public service.   

The contemplated move to temper with inflation figures is intended to give a cooked up figure of the cost of living index thereby robbing workers of the opportunity to advance wage demands in line with the rise in the cost of living index. The Govt.’s refusal to publish the unit value of the C.O.L Index is in line with this objective.

Hundred of workers who are left in the lurch without their earned wages and statutory entitlements by fly-by- night investors have no protection whatsoever. So are those workers who lose employment due to employer insolvency. Neither the courts which look into liquidation processes nor the state afford any relief to these workers. As a consequence hundreds of workers are left with no source of income and go to swell the ranks of the unemployed .

The growth figures are being deliberately depressed through statistical  manipulation to give a single digit unemployment figure .

Above all freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively is under serious threat, Freedom of expression, assembly and protest are being curtailed by the defence establishment. The right to strike has been undermined by using the Courts as cats-paw. 

The present regime sees no other way out than keeping the existing system going. The open economy ushered in 1977 is being perpetuated in the interests of the capitalist class, both local and foreign .

The present situation is pregnant with danger. The trade unions cannot afford to ignore the situation any further. They need to rally together and take action to halt the drift towards an authoritarian state in the service of big businesses. 

The government’s drift towards authoritarianism is being felt by all sectors of the people in the country. The people are slowly awakening to realise that their democratic rights and freedom are being threatened and eroded by the use /misuse of the judicial process. This is clearly evident in the field of labour as many of the outbreaks of trade union action have been stymied through the judicial process.

The struggle to win rights of workers cannot be conducted in isolation confined to the trade union plane. The unions need to fuse their struggle with the new awakening that is taking place for democratic freedoms in the country. The movement for true democracy is taking shape and workers and their organisation can spur the movement by joining and linking their struggle with the mass struggle for democracy.  

(Author: T.M.R. Rasseedin)