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Campaign (CCC) met encountered workers who have been object of labour rights violations, including harassment to trade unions, illegal dismissal of trade union leaders, sexual harassment and labour rights violations within the Free Trade Zones, the release said.

The delegates also expressed their concerns about the extensive use of manpower agencies for co-working arrangements, which have undermined freedom of association and collective bargaining; and on the fact that the judiciary has increasingly been interfering in labour disputes and collective bargaining to the detriment of trade unions.

At a meeting with Labour Minister John Seneviratne, the latter has expressed his commitment to ensure that 50 per cent of the benefits of GSP+ will be for the workers.

“We obviously welcome this engagement, but we still don’t know how the government will deliver this promise; we will therefore be closely following its implementation. From our perspective, the first step to make sure that the benefits go to the workers is to make sure that they get fair wages, have the effective right to organise and bargain collectively. Signing a convention is just the beginning. The real challenge is to implement it; to ensure that workers not only have the theoretical right to organise, but also that, in reality, there is no harassment towards trade unions by the employers,” the statement quoted the delegates as saying.