Stop criminalising garment workers!
The apparel and textile industry contributes to 6% of the country’s economy while accounting to 40% of the country’s exports. In 2019 alone, Sri Lanka earned US$ 5.3 billion from apparel exports. According to the World Bank Group, the apparel industry which provides about half a million jobs has announced significant job cuts due to low global demand and a shortage of raw materials. The sector employs about 15% of the country’s workforce, and Sri Lanka records the highest apparel exports per capita of any exporting nation in the region.
In such a backdrop it doesn’t seem fair to be accusing them for the new COVID-19 outbreak in Minuwangoda. If one happens to visit their boarding rooms, especially situated at the Katunayake export processing zone, one may not even imagine what these women go through to earn a living. A small room is often rented by three or four girls with amenities that would suffice their renting period. With clothes on one side, a cooking stove or gas cooker on another and a mattress that they would utilise to sleep in shifts, the garment workers live a daily struggle.
When at work, they are given a target of attaching buttons or other items to the garments and until they meet their target, the supervisors keep a close watch. This means sacrificing their lunch hours and tea breaks to meet the daily targets that would earn them a pittance. The girls in turn have to pay their rents, utility bills and also send money home, sometimes to help an ailing parent or support a sibling to continue studies.
When curfew was imposed in March, many of these workers were sent home and have remained unemployed. For many who come to metropolitan areas to find jobs, a garment factory is one place they have much hopes on, especially women. First the sailors were criminalised for contracting the virus and now people have started blaming the garment workers. It really isn’t fair!
Nobody would know how COVID-19 is transmitted especially due asymptomatic carriers. Therefore, the least we could do is respect them for their service and act as responsible citizens, adhering to health guidelines, avoiding social gatherings and staying home as much as possible.
AFREETHINKER