Negotiations over union dispute at FTZ factory collapse
View(s):Efforts by Labour Minister W.J.M. Seneviratne to mediate in the dispute ended inconclusively due to rigid positions maintained by both sides.
Anton Marcus, Joint Secretary, Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union (FTZGSEU), said after the union complained, the minister called a meeting on January 31 where he requested the company to take back the two sacked workers, saying the due process was not followed in their dismissal.
The minister had also urged the union to give an undertaken that its members will not engage the acts of sabotage.
The issues had earlier arisen when workers of the company, owned by the family of Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, joined the FTZGSEU and formed a branch organisation on September 2015. After many issues arising out of the formation of the union, two workers were sacked. The company is part of the larger Global Group which is involved in global group logistics, transport and freight.
Mr. Marcus said that at a February 8 discussion chaired by the minister, company representatives had said they are not in a position to offer the jobs back to the sacked workers but willing to pay compensation. The union wanted time to consider and at another meeting on Tuesday, February 14 before the Commissioner General of Labour, union representatives said they were sticking by the proposal to take back the sacked workers, and not compensation.
After the company refused, the union said it will resort to legal action against unfair and unreasonable dismissal.