Unions urge PM to call stakeholder meeting on GSP+

Sri Lankan unions have urged Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to immediately call a meeting of stakeholders in garments and other industries to discuss the way forward in the GSP+ concessions agenda.

“We call upon you to convene a meeting of all stakeholders without delay to discuss modalities to set up a monitoring committee as proposed in our ‘Road Map’ that would keep track of the implementation of required conditions under which Sri Lanka regained GSP + concessions,” IndustriALL Sri Lanka Council said in a letter to the PM.

The local body is part of a global trade union network. The letter to the PM was jointly signed by Palitha Athuko r a l a , General Secretary of the Council and its co- chair Anton Marcus.

The letter expressed happiness that Sri Lanka was able to regain the concessions lost in 2010 which was owing to not honouring commitments on human and labour rights.

It referred to an EU fact finding mission in Sri Lanka on April 10- 12 which met Ministers John Seneviratne and Kabir Hassim among other officials. “As GSP+ is not a direct benefit given to exports, the visiting mission wanted to know how the advantage and benefit of using GSP+ would be shared by workers and the public. The delegation was assured by ministers and officials that 50 per cent of the benefit would be for workers and the people. The Government should take adequate steps to ensure workers and the public receive a fair share of these benefits,” the letter notes.

The union said that it is important for the government to ensure these guarantees are adequately met before the next review in two years, adding that in this context it was important to re- visit the Road Map presented by the unions to the government.