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Reference to recent articles in The Sunday Times Business section on the need to formulate guidelines for the payment of compensation and on labour reforms, I agree that a uniform formula in arriving at the payment of compensation is essential.
But it is also hoped that due consideration will be given to the fact that loss of employment, especially due to layoffs, results generally due to no fault of the employees while lack of foresight, mismanagement and embezzlement can also lead to retrenchment of staff and labour or even bankruptcy and closure of business and to penalise employees in such situations would be unfair.
necessary bacteria
It is stated that labour unions have become a "necessary bacteria". It certainly has and mainly brought about by most trade unions being affiliated to political parties with a tendency to use workers as scapegoats to further their own political ends and also unfair treatment meted out to employees by unscrupulous employers who take advantage of not only loopholes in the existing labour laws, but also of apparent complacency of the Labour Department, perhaps due to inadequate personnel and also inadequate powers vested in them to strictly enforce their authority when required. However, from some articles that appeared in the press in the recent past, it would seem that there is negligence as well on the part of the Labour Department, inspite of it being regarded as the guardian of the workers.
It is stated, "the labour laws in Sri Lanka are far more advanced than many countries", but it is also stated that "in Sri Lanka there is neither no lawful requirement for appointment letters to be given to employees, nor a need to hold a disciplinary inquiry to sack an employee" and the fact "that you hold a disciplinary inquiry is only to show your bona-fides on the principle of natural justice". However, the Establishment Code provides specifically and in detail, procedures to be followed in holding disciplinary inquires in the public sector, whereas, there is no legal protection whatsoever covering disciplinary inquiries, of recent origin termed domestic inquiries, in the private sector and consequently unscrupulous employers take advantage of this situation to harass and intimidate employees whose services they wish to terminate. The general modus operandi being:
a) The employee is interdicted, often without wages, even without issuing a formal "Show Cause" and a Charge Sheet follows only after a search for material after interdiction, to issue same;
b) The word 'fraud' is included in some of the charges, even when there isn't a semblance of fraud, merely to make interdiction without wages to appear justified;
c) The Inquiring Officer is a person of the employer's choice and since this is apparently a means of additional income for the Inquiring Officer he can, if he chooses to, be partial towards the employers;
d) The employers maintain that the employee's defence representative should be someone acceptable to them, which is understandable, but in the event he is unacceptable, no reasons are given on the grounds that they are not obliged to give reasons;
e) The inquiry is deliberately delayed and, and in the meantime, the employee has no means of sustenance for his wife and family and himself, while he has to bear the cost of defending himself at the inquiry as well;
f) Under these circumstances he is "driven to the wall" and, on being unable to bear it any longer, submits himself and accepts whatever pittance is offered to him by his employers in settlement of the dispute and leaves his employment;
g) In instances where the domestic inquiry is concluded the Inquiring Officer's finding are not made available to the defendant employee on the grounds that it is a privileged document.
Procedure
In a recent case of a dispute in the estate sector, an employee was interdicted without wages, with no formal show cause issued to him. One week later, despite the annual audit which was free of adverse comments, and only done five months earlier, a special audit was carried out and a charge sheet was issued three months after interdiction. The domestic inquiry commenced five months after interdiction and took 20 months to be concluded. A further four months taken by the Inquiring officer to finalise his report, making a total of 29 months after interdiction, while all this time the employee was without wages. Finally the employee's services were terminated with retrospective effect from the date of interdiction.
While the inquiry was proceeding, the employee appealed to the Labour Department to intervene and provide some relief. The Labour Commissioner who investigated was of the view that the inquiry was unduly delayed and suggested to the employers to pay the employee 1/2 months wages until the inquiry was concluded, but this was unacceptable to the employers. The Labour Commissioner who appeared to be helpless in that situation, then stipulated dates for the finalisation of the dispute, but this was ignored by the employer.
It is imperative that the following be given due consideration:
a) Procedures to be followed prior to interdiction, when interdiction is contemplated.
B) Interdiction without wages, when considered appropriate, only with the approval of the Labour Commissioner or by Court order.
C) Conciliation Officer to be appointed by the Commissioner of Labour from a panel of Conciliation Officers, comprising essentially retired officials with a judicial background, and others of similar standing who will be paid at the conclusion of an inquiry by the employer thorough the Labour Secretariat.
D) Specific period for the conclusion of the domestic inquiry depending on the number and nature of charges, but not exceeding three months, unless with the approval of the Labour Commissioner.
E) The Inquiring Officer's findings to be forwarded to employers through the Labour Secretariat, with a copy to the defendant employee.
F) If either party is in disagreement with the Inquiring Officer's findings, the employer and employee, as the case may be, may resort to a decision from a higher court as provided in the Industrial Disputes Act related to Labour Tribunal orders, but the Act amended to double the penalty in the event of a negative order from a higher court.
This will not only provide some protection to the employees, but also ease congestion at the Labour Tribunals.
This dispute is now before the Labour Tribunal since February 2001, but inquiry proceedings have still not got off the ground due to postponements at the request of the employers. Meanwhile the employee is without employment on account of this dispute for the past 41 months.
In December 2000, the subject of the absence of legal protection on disciplinary (domestic) inquiries was brought to the notice of the former Labour Minister who was good enough to promptly instruct the Labour Department to institute suitable action, but no positive response has been forthcoming from the Labour Department to-date.
Frank Jinadasa
Ratmalana.
CEAT-Kelani Associated Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, the leading tyre manufacturer in Sri Lanka, has announced a major reduction in the retail prices of truck and bus tyres.
"Effective December 10, 2001 this reduction would make CEAT the most affordable tyre when compared to all international brands sold in the local market," the company's General Manager (Sales & Marketing) Ashwin Padukone said in a statement.
"In a market battered by the economic downturn, the ability of the customer to buy new tyres at the correct time has dwindled. As a result many vehicles are seen on the road with bald tyres, which seriously jeopardise the safety of the customers and their vehicles," he said.
The anticipated benefit of the increase in offtake and the consequent capacity utilisation has been factored into the price reduction and has been passed onto the consumers, Padukone added.
CEAT-Kelani Associated Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, a joint venture company established in 1999, represents the strategic alliance between Kelani Tyres Ltd, AMW Group, NDB and CEAT Ltd of India. The holding company has two manufacturing arms, one in Kalutara and the other at Kelaniya.
The Information Institute of Technology (IIT) said it has opened an authorised centre in Sri Lanka for the Rational University.
IIT, being the largest private university in Sri Lanka, said the new centre resulted in another milestone in the institute's pioneering contributions to Sri Lankan IT education.
Dominos, the international pizza company which faced a few teething problems in the initial stages of its launch in Colombo earlier this year, has decided to reduce the number of service outlets to three from six.
The company said in a statement that it was revamping the outfit in order to serve customers better while the trimming exercise was aimed at focusing more closely on individual customer issues. The three service outlets now operating are in Rajagiriya, Mount Lavinia and Millennium Park in Colombo.
World-renowned Domino's is an international pizza chain that specialises in quick delivery-to-your-doorstep within 30 minutes of the order being placed, the statement said.
Colombo brokers expect stock prices to tumble further this week before buyers come back to the market.
The buying frenzy that sent the Colombo bourse to record highs gave way to bouts of profit taking and selling by punters with settlements coming up last week.
However, sentiment remains bullish although investors would now be taking a hard look at company fundamentals and at how the new United National Party government would revive the economy.
"The initial euphoria is over," said Chinthaka Ranasinghe, head of research at John Keells Stock Brokers. "Right now people are taking a close look at company fundamentals."
He said he sees the market settling down at around the 610-615 level on the All Share Price Index and that its future performance would depend on what the government would do to fix the economy.
"It's a bit too early to say, but it depends on the incentive package given to the corporate sector and how that filters down into company earnings," he added.
Radhika Jayasundera, assistant vice president of research at DFCC Stockbrokers, said selling might continue into this week with retailers taking profits and settlements coming up.
"We expect to see a little more weakness," she said. "But there'll come a point when there'll be a slowdown in selling - then buyers will come back and the market will again pick up. But we'll not see the buying frenzy we saw earlier."
Nouzab Fareed, director at MMBL Research, also believes selling pressure might continue into this week but that the market would then move up once again.
"The economy and corporate earnings are not doing too well but expectations are bullish - people expect the UNP to do wonders," he said. "The market might gradually go up to about the 750 level - but before that there'll be several dips - and then consolidate."
Beyond that, the market's performance would depend on the new government's policies and how they will be implemented, he added. Foreign investors are not likely to return immediately since they are unlikely to be interested in emerging markets like Sri Lanka in a global recession, he said.
DFCC Stockbrokers' Jayasundera concurred: "I don't see too many foreign investors coming in at the moment. They'll probably wait to see what the new policies will be. The few that hung around will be taking a very long term view."
Foreigners have largely remained on the sidelines and the few foreign funds that remained in the market, holding mainly blue chips, might hold off a little longer, she said.
By Ashwin Hemmathagama
The Colombo bourse picked up by 18.4 and 57.4 in the All Share and Milanka Price Indexes respectively on Monday, reporting its highest ever turnover of Rs. 866.92 million. The historic turnover was helped by 5,795 trades while there was a net foreign outflow of Rs. 332.6 million.
However, the market eased during the rest of the week, falling by a daily average of 20 points in the benchmark All Share index though the daily turnover continued to average Rs. 595 million. SC Securities research analyst, K. Maheshwaran, said the fall in the index was due to profit taking and low foreign purchases at the CSE.
Prominent market player Dhammika Perera further enhanced his stake in Royal Ceramics Ltd (RCL) on Wednesday by buying 2% of the issued share capital of 750 million ordinary shares. Presently he has a 21% stake in RCL During the week Associated Electrical Corporation Ltd. (AEC) made a mandatory offer for Associated Motorways Ltd (AMW) shares at Rs. 30/- per share. AEC now holds 35% of the issued share capital of AMW. Market indexes also fell on Thursday.
By Hiran Senewiratne.
Despite tough economic conditions, multinational Reckitt Benckiser (RB) has done well by focusing on its core pest control and antiseptics business and also by investing heavily in its people-first approach under a new performance oriented compensation system.
''Our company has performed very well during the last couple of years due to the absolute aggression of our sales team," RB Director Marketing, Stuart A. Chapman told The Sunday Times Business.
"A key attitude we have in our business is that 100 percent is achievement and 99 percent is failure,'' said RB Managing Director, Ravi Fernando.
Chapman also said that his company was able to outsmart other companies despite the economic downturn due to the fact that they were always customer oriented and focus on a few fast moving consumer products mainly in the home care business.
In Sri Lanka, Reckitt is very much a household name, he added.
The company has recorded a 30 percent growth in its markets during the last four months and its cash flow position is at its highest in its 50 years of operation. The cash position of the company had leapt 106 percent from 1999 to an all time high of Rs. 376 million last year, Chapman said.
Consolidated net profits for the nine months ended September 30 rose to Rs. 71 million from Rs. 59 million in the same period the year before.
Chapman said that they are the market leaders for most of the household products they are selling. He said that RB's flagship brand in Sri Lanka is the Mortein brand of pest control products which have a market share of 65 percent. Other brands such as Dettol have a 90 percent market share and Harpic 70 percent. The Cardinal brand of floor polish is the market leader in this field, he added.
The international merger of Reckitts with Benckiser took place in December 1999 and has been successful despite expectations that there would be hiccups in the merged company's operations, he said.
RB Sri Lanka is also committed to high standards of corporate behaviour towards employees, customers, government and community, he said.
"A sound environmental policy and a deep commitment towards health safety and community consciousness have been our main focus," he said.
He said the company's Reckitt Suwa Shakthi health programme in 50 schools in the Kelaniya and Negombo areas helps to educate school children on how to prevent various diseases like Dengue and Malaria.
The role of "Ethical Leadership" in shaping the future of business is one of the topics to be discussed at the 22nd National Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) scheduled for December 20 - 22. The theme of the conference is, "Creating value in the new economy".
"We in Sri Lanka have a great deal of catching up to do," said Mr. Ranel T. Wijesinha, president of ICASL. "The issues discussed will be our contribution to awareness building, knowledge and skill enhancement. We have opened registration to a large number of non-members this year and I'm happy that many have taken advantage of this offer."
Discussions will revolve around how chief executives can take stock of their current business model and lead the process of repositioning the enterprise to take advantage of the new economy and the management of regulatory challenges including deregulation, especially with reference to experience gained from deregulation of the insurance industry in India.
A Silicon Valley professor will re-live his experience of managing a "start-up" successfully into a fully-fledged knowledge-based enterprise and discuss various challenges faced including seed capital financing.
Picture shows a Dankotuwa Porcelain table setting for a formal 5-course meal.
Dankotuwa Porcelain is holding a number of workshops along with its "Tableware Show 2001" exhibition, to create interest and provide practical training in the art of laying a table.
The exhibition runs from December 14 to 16 with the workshops conducted by Lilan Weerasinghe, senior lecturer at the Ceylon Hotel School.
"There are different ways of laying a table to suit different occasions. A formal meal could typically comprise five courses. The spoons, knives and forks for each course should be laid out in the correct order at each place setting, together with glasses for white and red wine, champagne and water," Weerasinghe said.
"Casually served meals are different. A buffet table where guests serve themselves can be laid out in a creative, attractive manner. A beautifully laid table can make even a simple tea party memorable," he noted.
By Edmund Klamann and Eriko Amaha
TOKYO, (Reuters) - With Japan's electronics titans losing money, their revered workplace traditions like lifetime employment teetering and their armies of engineers demoralised, the country might look like a high-tech has-been.
As the ties that bind Japan's professionals to big companies unravel, however, many industry executives, academics and engineers insist the changes rocking Japan's employment system will be good both for its workers and for its technological base.
"They have to adopt new systems: ability-based wages, or other flexible employment systems," said Seiichiro Yonekura, head of Hitotsubashi University's Institute of Innovation Research. "The only problem is that, right now, everybody's afraid."
Indeed, signs of worry and discontent are rife.
Nikkei Electronics, one of Japan's leading high-tech industry magazines, last month published a survey showing 40 percent of Japanese engineers did not want to stay with their current employer, compared with 19 percent of U.S. respondents.
Fewer than 50 percent of the Japanese thought their employer was taking good care of its engineers, compared with more than 80 percent of their U.S. counterparts.
"Japan's big companies are followers — they're behind the curve," said Yukitaka Takemura, a 30-year-old engineer who left his job at a big electronics conglomerate last year to work for a computer software venture.
"I came to think the system would not change so as to generate profits. I wanted to move to a company where I could negotiate my salary."
Confidence ebbs
Japanese electronics giants such as Hitachi Ltd, Toshiba Corp , Fujitsu Ltd, NEC Corp and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd are not exactly inspiring confidence among workers.
Each expects a consolidated net loss of more than $1 billion for this business year and plans to cut thousands of jobs, adding to the gloom as the economic recession deepens and unemployment hits record highs.
None of those mammoth manufacturers is laying off lifetime workers in Japan, although they are encouraging some to leave with generous early retirement packages, but many contract workers and overseas employees face the axe.
Posing a serious challenge is the widening generation gap between those over 40, who accepted low pay in their youth for the promise of a secure job and steady pay rises later on, and younger workers who doubt the future of the Japanese system and want more control over their careers.
Still, many high-tech manufacturers have in recent years been easing away from seniority-based pay and promotion and boosting their employment of so-called job-hoppers.
NEC in April launched a merit-based system in its computer services division that offers salaries of up to 20 million yen ($160,000) a year, equivalent to a director's pay, for top-level engineers. So far, only two have qualified for that grade.
Of new hires at Sony Corp last year, 44 percent — 400 people in all — were moving from another job, although at more staid rival Matsushita only 100 were job-hoppers, compared with 650 recruits that were fresh out of school.
Hiroaki Takahashi, a manager in Matsushita's corporate personnel group, said most mid-career hires were in their late twenties and thirties, since those in their forties would expect high salaries and senior positions.
Generation gap
Competition among manufacturers for young engineering talent has become fierce.
"We're stealing from each other," Takahashi said, although he added that Japanese engineers were drawn to consumer electronics companies by the prospect of being able to design new products.
In the meantime, employees over 40, often the highly paid senior staff that companies are most eager to shed, find themselves at a disadvantage in the workplace.
"Many men who at 50 are looking for a new job for the first time lose hope when they open up the want ads and all the jobs are for people under 35," said Kazuhiro Seki, chief consultant at Drake Beam Morin-Japan Inc, a consultancy that helps firms find new jobs for redundant workers.
He said more than 80 percent of the 5,500 people registered with his company were aged 45-58, but added they could overcome the age factor by taking advantage of the personal connections that are so crucial in Japanese business and society.
"People are reluctant to use those connections when they start looking for work. They don't want to bother others," he said. "We teach them how to put them to use."
As for lifetime employment practices, considered a pillar of worker loyalty at Japan's big manufacturers, change is expected although companies are likely to move gingerly.
"We have no guarantee of lifetime employment. It's just a custom," said NEC president Koji Nishigaki. "But those over 40 or 50, they got a low salary in their younger days, so we have some obligation to let them recover that."
At the same time, he said: "I tell young people they should move once or twice to another company." Engineers and executives also doubted that loosening company ties would undermine the group loyalty and dedication to teamwork that many consider the bedrock of Japan's technological prowess.
"Engineers do feel loyalty toward their work," says Tomoo Ishizaki, a 35-year-old engineer who earlier this year left a big electronics manufacturer to work for a computer systems firm.
"Even if people switch jobs, they share the same goals (as their colleagues). I don't think job-hopping would affect Japan's technological edge."
National Award winning hundred percent Sri Lankan Nippolac paints is the sole supplier of paints to the ultra modern Information Technology park (IT Park) at Malabe which was formally inaugurated recently a press release said.
Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology Complex, the IT Campus with an academic buildings of ten floors and six storeyed administrative block, an Auditorium and other related buildings is a mega project by any standard.
The Architects and the main contractors were highly conscious of the paints and they were subjected to rigorous evaluation and demonstration tests comparing Nippolac paints with other brands the press release further said.
Once the decision was made as Nippolac the conctractors laid down stringent supply and delivery schedules. A wide range of colour samples were required for selection and approval by the Architects and the client. Bulk quantities were ordered to be supplied subject to strict deadliness. Nippolac liked up to this task, and in fact had surpassed the requirements laid down. Mr. Surange Kuruppu, the Sales Manager, says " The Company, proud of its excellent customer service which combined with the quality of its products, has won for itself steady growth in sales and market share this assignment is a clear example.
This 100% Sri Lankan company has won for itself many National and International Awards culminating the National Gold Award for 2001 awarded by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) .It is also a Member of the prestigious Paint Research Association (PRA) of U.K.
Nippolac Paints plans to open up a Colour Matching Centre with advanced technology in the very near future under one of its subsidiary Companies - Silico Colour Coatings (Pvt.) Ltd. The other Member of the Nippolac Group, Speciality Construction Chemicals (Pvt.) Ltd., has already entered the market with highly useful products for the building trade - Nippoflex Waterproof Coating Systems. Waterproof Coatings - another first from a Sri Lankan manufacturer - are in high demand for preventing leakages in various types of roofs, ponds, swimming pools, water tanks and such other constructions.
Caltex Lubricants Lanka Limited the pre eminent lubricant marketer in Sri Lanka recently concluded its dealer promotion held over a period of 3 months. The promotion was targeted covering around 150 CPC dealers. And all other independent service stations. Both segments put together contribute a major percentage of the Caltex volumes. The awards were presented at a ceremony held at the Caltex House a press release said.
"Caltex as an organization will continue to do many activities to strengthen our relationship with its business partners," said Sumith Hewavithana, National Sales Manager of Caltex. Whilst welcoming the dealers for the event he appreciated and thanked all the dealers for their commitment in making the promotion a success under the current economic situations. Hence, the promotional objective was achieved due to this dedication. He further requested for the same support and dedication from the dealers in all future activities of the company as well.
All CPC dealers had targets above their monthly average and points were awarded for all incremental volumes. Once again out of the top dealers two won return air tickets to Bangkok with accommodation and Fifty (50) other dealers won many exciting and valuable prizes consisting of electronic and merchandise items. The evaluation criteria for independent service station operators were based on volume targets for which 250 service stations collected points and gifts were awarded.
As Christmas and Ramazan Festival approaches the time has arrived to choose the clothes for various functions during this holiday season. An important aspect of "clothes shopping" is to focus your attention on details such as : the right colours, elegant designs, high quality and that perfect fit. The right combination of these factors will ensure that you will be the cynosure of all eyes at all functions. Therefore, it is vital that the concept of "common sense for dress sense" is followed to project your personality and status to the outside world.
Hameedia's advises you to be careful when shopping for clothes this season, as currently the markets are overwhelmed with cheap, inferior, ill-fitting clothes and fake brands. Today most clothes salesman are not trained in the art of salesmanship and therefore will give you wrong advice on clothes without knowing your exact requirements.
According to a spokesman at Hameedias, men sometimes fail when it comes to making common sense decisions to choose their clothes. As more often than not their clothes are chosen by someone else in their family or by their friends. It is important for men to choose their own clothes as only they know their own body structure and personality.
Ultimately it is you who should be aware of what suits you best and to get the best it is important to shop at a reputed clothes store such as Hameedias who can guarantee genuine quality.
Dialog Internet is a fully-fledged internet Service provider, with a strong network and a dedicated staff to provide you with the most reliable service and fastest access speed within the boundaries of Sri Lanka a press release said. Dialog specialise in providing customised Internet solutions from dial-up services to Web based integrated solutions.
Dialog Internet commitment to is customers and continuous improvement of technology and management practices has earned the company the distinction of becoming the first Telecommunications Company in South Asia to receive ISO 9002 certification and Sri Lanka National Quality Award (Large Sector).
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