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Need
for Presidential Commission This is mainly due to the inconvenience faced by members of the general public in every aspect covering their daily life from the bread to transport as the entire system comes to a complete standstill. I also fully agree that the time has come for the authorities to review this situation as we have close upon 150 days holidays during the year. A Third World country like ours which is facing several economic difficulties cannot afford to lose valuable manpower and the loss of productivity. However, the fact remains that upto now no government has succeeded in remedying this issue as it is a highly sensitive issue and could even result in the loss of popular support as no party will like to lose its vote base. I do not agree with the opinion that the religious holidays should be curtailed and given only to the respective members of each religion. Firstly we should respect every religion and by giving an opportunity to the entire public on a day significant to particular religious faith will result in uniting the community as they will be alive to the religious feelings of their fellow citizens. After all Sri Lanka is a multi-religious country. Secondly, by restricting the holiday to a particular religious faith will not bring any beneficial results. For example if a particular subject or file is handled by an official of particular religion, our system and culture is such especially in the government sector that those who work will not take the trouble to handle the matter. The skeleton staff who report for duty will not ensure any productive work as they will consider this day as a" paid holiday". Attempts have been made during the recent budget proposal to increase the working hours of public servants to 10 hours. This is a bold proposal but not a realistic one. Those of us who have the opportunity of dealing with various government departments know how the public sector in the country works. It will take months for a file to move from one table to another. In the absence of a particular officer no alternate arrangements are in place as to help the public. During the holiday season it is worse. On the contrary, the system in the banks is completely different as the bank officials have to ensure continuity of service irrespective of the availability of officials and the customers are not inconvenienced. The argument could be made that if banks depend on customer deposits, then government officials too depend on taxpayers money and that's way they are called "public servants". In my opinion, I feel that the government should appoint a Presidential Commission with representatives from all political parties, Employers Federation officials and Trade unions and arrive at a suitable mechanism in reducing the existing public holidays and ensure that there is maximum productivity. This will be beneficial to the country and its citizens as any adhoc and unilateral decisions will not be implementable.
M. C. V. Rajanathan Special
industrial zone for hard-working Sri Lankans I for one am certainly not a holiday hater, the natural trait of a Sri Lankan one could say. However of my 25-year working career, 11 years have been in the Middle East where holidays are limited. Limited number of holidays never discouraged Sri Lankans from seeking Middle East employment. The thriving success of job agents is ample proof. The hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from Sri Lanka toiling in these countries is clear evidence of the fact that Sri Lankans are not a lethargic bunch of people who would not want to earn a comfortable living. The rulers of our country are caught up in a dilemma having to please the trade unions that would use their strength to halt any moves to reduce the number of holidays Sri Lanka 'enjoys'. In the Middle East, Sri Lankans work 6 days a week, and depending on the nature of work some even work 7 days a week and don't complain. This of course is due to the high salaries paid. National holidays per annum hardly exceed 10 days. It is a proven fact that we Sri Lankans can endure that. Sri Lankans who were hardy enough to sustain and succeed in those countries are assured of a reward coming at the end of their 2-year contracts as well. They get their well-earned 2-months fully paid holiday to spend with their families back home. Other plus points are that the job is secure with one's employer renewing the contract before one leaves on holiday often with a salary increase. There is one aspect that contributes to the workers success. Significantly he is away from the day-to-day responsibilities a family man will have to cope with and also one is relieved of pressures imposed by the need to interact with society (friends, relatives and ones own families) which could interfere with performance at work. Having established the fact that some people are willing to forego the handsome prospect of having 143 holidays per year (as Mr. Janarathanan has worked out) in exchange for extra earnings, should encourage the lawmakers and rulers of this country. All this said a change for the better seems impossible since this country is so democratic in its ways to put it mildly. A solution I have been toying with in my mind for some time is this. Why not create an industrial zone in this country where labour laws, etc will be different where the number of holidays will be curtailed and the rewards paid will be appropriately high? The employer could be empowered to have similar regulations like in the Middle East. We need not create sweatshops in this country but we could increase productivity under a different set of laws restricted to an area. It is the employees who choose to find jobs in the area for a higher reward. He will have full knowledge of the bargain he makes. This is opportunity for one to earn more by working more. I am sure our hardworking Sri Lankans will take to it like a duck to water. Should the experiment succeed no doubt the zone will increase in size. This will also boost productivity and investor confidence in Sri Lanka increasing foreign investments. Lawrence
Fernando Debate
over too many holidays Some
thoughts on holidays In additional every employee should have three more holidays to be taken for any religious festival and not added to his/her leave entitlement. This would make a total of 10 holidays in all. Thus Christians could take Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Christmas; Hindus - Thaipongal, Mahasivarathri and Deepaval; and Muslims - Haj, Holy Prophet Mohamed's Birthday and Ramazan. Buddhists could take any three Poya days. This way the establishment would be closed only for seven days in the year. All minority communities would get holidays on their religious days. Presently mercantile employees do not get holidays on the following days - Hindus for Mahashivarathri and Deepavali; Muslims for Ramazan and Christians for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. The Poya holidays are of no use to non-Buddhists. This system would please all religious groups and solve the problem of too many holidays.
Cecil Abeyasuriya |
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