“Pay Your Workers” for April 2020, says Labour Ministry
View(s):The Labour Ministry has directed companies to pay the full salaries to its workers for April 2020 and that proper payments need to be made to obtain additional labour hours for the loss of hours of work in that month due to the COVID-19 lockdown imposed in the country last year.
Labour Ministry Secretary Mapa Pathirana in a letter addressed to the Ethical Trading Initiative South Asia Regional Director Rana Alok Singh stated that employers in Sri Lanka have to pay full wages for the month of April 2020.
“Further, Department of Labour has instructed to its officers that full salary should be paid for the month of April 2020. The Department will take action against any employer if there are any complaints,” the letter stated. However, the Secretary has pointed out that they have not received any complaints regarding additional working hours to recover loss occurred due to COVID -19.
It is also pointed out that the existing laws “do not permit workers to work overtime to cover the loss hours. According to the existing labour laws in Sri Lanka employers cannot make work overtime to cover for the lost hours and they cannot obtain the service on public holidays and the holidays entitled to the workers without making the proper payments. The Department of Labour will take action against employers if there are any complaints.”
However, trade unionists claim that there have been a majority of factories both within and outside the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) that have called on workers to make up for the loss of hours but due to no unions among these companies they have been unable to lodge complaints with the department.
FTZ and General Services Employees Union Joint Secretary Anton Marcus said that a majority of the factories have not made payments for April 2020 while some have paid only half month payments while still others have not fulfilled their complete obligation for the payment of salaries according to the COVID-19 scheme.
He pointed out that currently only 5 per cent of the private sector is unionised and in this respect, all factories that were so represented had worked according to the rules.
Meanwhile, following a meeting with their global partners, Mr. Marcus said that they hope to stage a weeks’ protest on the theme “Pay Your Workers” regarding payments not made to workers amounting to US$24 million for the three month period of March to May 2020. However, this number is expected to increase as the unions are hoping to calculate the losses accrued by workers until December.
He noted that companies have not paid attendance bonus, breakfast, lunch and no transport as a result of which workers were compelled to stay away from work thereby causing voluntary worker redundancy.
He explained that though the workers agreed for lesser pay employers have not lost business.
Mr. Marcus also said that at least nine countries that included China, Vietnam, India and Turkey have joined together to demand that brands should pay for the cancellation of orders resulting in losses to the suppliers. However, he noted Sri Lanka has not joined as he believes the
Sri Lankan suppliers think the brands will pull out of suppliers that create problems. (SD)