Smart Shirts workers at home on half pay

The Smart Shirts apparel company has asked its workers to remain home since May, trade unions state raising concerns of possible termination of employment of these workers going forward.

Factory workers at the free trade zones are facing a number of issues from being not called to work to asking them to go home voluntarily in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

In the latest development, the Smart Shirts company with about four factories has asked its 2000 workforce to remain at home and have continued to pay half their salaries since May.

In this respect, FTZ Trade Union General Secretary Anton Marcus speaking with the Business Times said that they have made representat i ons to t he Lab o u r Commissioner and raised it at the first meeting held to receive complaints arising during this COVID-19 pandemic.

The Labour Department had stated that the Smart Shirts company had submitted an application to the Termination Unit of t he Lab o u r Department.

In this respect, authorities will be calling for an inquiry on the matter but the department had not been specific as to whether there would be layoffs or terminations.

Meanwhile, another large apparel company headquarters in Hong Kong with factories in Sri Lanka had been asked to pay full wages to its workers after sending home about 1000 workers through a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS). The company had been informed that they were not allowed to make payments under the current half pay terms since they had already violated the agreement by sending workers home during the pandemic.

Trade unions insist that the agreement to lower wages that has been extended by a further three months until September was to ensure that workers’ jobs would remain secure due to the pandemic.