Worker voices matter in Sri Lanka’s apparel strategy, union says
View(s):Recent calls by industry leaders for Sri Lanka’s apparel sector to move away from volume-based production toward differentiated, high value manufacturing reflects an important strategic shift, a key union has said.
However, from a policy and trade governance perspective, this repositioning could not be achieved without recognising the long standing role of trade unions and the policy directions they have consistently advocated, according to Anton Marcus, Joint Secretary of the Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees Union (FTZ & GSEU), one of the largest trade unions in Sri Lanka’s garment and export manufacturing sectors.
In a media release, he said that for many years trade unions had argued that Sri Lanka’s competitiveness did not lie in scale or low labour costs, but in skills, compliance, ethical production, and stronger supply chain integration.
He noted that trade unions had repeatedly proposed strengthening backward linkages, particularly in textiles, yarn, accessories, and finishing processes connected to the apparel industry. These proposals emphasised reducing dependence on imported raw materials, improving lead times, and building supply chain resilience without eroding labour standards.
“Unions had also consistently highlighted the need to link skills development with upstream manufacturing and to embed labour and environmental compliance across the entire supply chain. While these proposals closely aligned with the differentiation strategy now articulated by employers, they had not been systematically incorporated into national industrial or trade policy,” the statement said.
Although employer representatives had increasingly acknowledged weaknesses in supply chain verticality and Sri Lanka’s limited access to free trade agreements, meaningful social dialogue on industrial strategy had remained limited. Worker solutions had remained outside the sector’s core decision-making processes.
This policy gap, he warned, posed a growing risk as Sri Lanka faced heightened scrutiny under the European Union’s Forced Labour Regulation, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), and GSP+ conditionalities. Under these frameworks, Sri Lanka was expected to demonstrate effective protection of freedom of association, credible worker participation in monitoring and grievance mechanisms, and due diligence covering the entire supply chain. The CSDDD process and GSP+ monitoring increasingly assess not only compliance outcomes, but also the credibility of governance processes. In this context, audit driven or employer only compliance systems have proven insufficient, as worker centred governance has become a regulatory expectation rather than a voluntary commitment.
Mr. Marcus said that integrating trade union voices through a meaningful national tripartite policy dialogue into export-oriented industrial policy design was essential to meeting EU regulatory requirements, safeguarding GSP+ market access, and sustaining the country’s claimed ethical manufacturing reputation.
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