Financial Times

Jaqalanka dispute resolved
The Free Trade Zone Workers Union (FTZWU) and the management of Jaqalanka Ltd have reached an agreement, in good faith, to resolve their dispute over union recognition at the company's factory in the Katunayake FTZ, the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) announced.

According to the agreement, the Jaqalanka management accepted the FTZWU as representing the concerns of its members at Jaqalanka Ltd. In return, the FTZWU agreed to call off the international solidarity campaign that has been waged against Jaqalanka Ltd.

"Both parties committed to a process of healing and reconciliation and agreed to work towards creating an environment conducive to good labour practices," a CPA statement said. To demonstrate the understanding reached between the parties and the company's recognition of the right of workers to freedom of association, copies of this agreement, in all three languages, will be displayed on the company notice board. Together with training and capacity building for both parties, the agreement also provides for the mutually acceptable reformulation of Jaqualanka's internal grievance procedures.

It was agreed that both parties would accept confidentiality as the guiding principle, and refrain from any form of public declarations on cases under review. In the first instance, the parties agreed to a dispute resolution and conciliation mechanism in terms of the Industrial Disputes Act No 56 of 1999. The meeting was convened by the Centre for Policy Alternatives, an independent public policy organization working on issues of governance and peace through projects of research and advocacy, on behalf of the Fair Labor Association.

The Fair Labor Association (FLA) is a collaborative effort to improve working conditions in factories around the world, working cooperatively with forward-looking companies, NGOs and universities. The FLA promotes a workplace code of conduct based on International Labour Organization standards. Two FLA participants, Nike and Vanity Fair, who source from Jaqalanka Ltd in Sri Lanka requested the FLA to help resolve the dispute. The FTZWU also made a complaint in terms of the FLA Third Party Complaints Mechanism.

The FLA independently monitors the implementation of the code of conduct throughout the supply chains of participating companies. The FLA reports publicly on the results of their monitoring and on the implementation of company compliance programmes. It was agreed that this forum would reconvene in six months to consider progress achieved under this agreement.

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