Patchy record at garment factories on allowing worker unions – apparel sector study

Whilst Sri Lanka’s relatively easy integration into the global political economy’s ‘ethical turn’ should be acknowledged, it is also important to register that its record continues to be patchy – particularly in the realm of a living wage and in thwarting workers’ freedom to associate and collectively bargain, a study on Sri Lanka’s apparel sector says.

“In contrast to the word and spirit of fundamental rights, core conventions and ethical codes, the Board of investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka, a government agency in charge of encouraging investment in the country, has advocated the position of creating Employee Councils in factory premises. The way these councils are constructed and implemented in the Sri Lankan apparel trade suggests that workers are offered limited or no voice and power to negotiate labour conditions and resource distribution within factories,” the research study by Dr. Kanchana Ruwanpura, Senior Lecturer Development Geography, University of Southampton says.

Thwart the formation of unions

It adds that the position adopted by the BOI has led to many complaints to be raised by trade unions regarding the punitive measures in place and how these thwart the formation of unions. “The Committee of Experts of the ILO has ruled that the BOI guidelines to various production facilities contravene the core conventions, yet, it is worker councils that largely prevail in the industry,” the report says.

Worker Councils are a form of non-union employee representation, with the underlying concept originating from European Works Councils (EWC), which was designed for the purpose of allowing employee and union representatives to meet in order to exchange inormation and consult with senior managers from the company concerned. The councils act to bridge the information and representation gap for employees. “This, in theory, would facilite the rescaling of trade union organization, allowing unions the opportunity to develop their own networks between workers,” the report highlights.

Although management interviews placed great value on welfare councils as giving workers the chance to voice concerns about their work, the field diaries of this research has suggested skepticism at the effectiveness of Workers Councils. “The ability of the workers councils to offer a space for democratic representation of workers was brought to the fore, with the view that management was not taking their complaints seriously. Thus its potential to change working conditions was deemed as relatively limited.”

This analysis points to the challenges that

Although management interviews placed great value on welfare councils as giving workers the chance to voice concerns about their work, the field diaries of this research has suggested skepticism at the effectiveness of Workers Councils. “The ability of the workers councils to offer a space for democratic representation of workers was brought to the fore, with the view that management was not taking their complaints seriously. Thus its potential to change working conditions was deemed as relatively limited.”

remain in the movement towards a global economy underpinned by voluntary ethical regimes. It shows how some codes are widely upheld because there is a favourable local socio-development context which makes it so, while other codes are less effectively executed, or are downplayed altogether, because local attitudes and institutions coincide with neoliberal priorities. By analyzing the geographical space for local-global interactions, this report shows how upholding global initiatives on ethical trading also draws upon the effective prevalence of national regulato- ry frameworks - and where these fail, then voluntary governance regimes are unlikely succeed too and are likely to result in no more than mere cosmetic change.

Strict policy against child labour

The research revealed that there is a strict policy against child labour, Dr. Ruwanpura says, adding that the fieldwork suggested that birth certificates were checked prior to employment, with almost every worker confirming this. Notice with the headline‘child labour remediation procedure’ were on no- tice boards in canteens and persons below the age of 18 were recommended to wear a badge with the letter Y, she says, adding that the management noted that their respective factories do not employ those less than 18 years of age.

“Media exposure of exploitative labour conditions at sites of production, with a particularly powerful focus on practices within Bangladesh, India and Pakistan in South Asia, has refocused public consciousness. Consequently, pressure to re-organise supply chains around ethical agendas has led to the emergence of ethical trading efforts, with multi-stakeholder initiatives and corporate codes of conduct used to upgrading as a possible avenue facilitating a transition towards improved labour conditions,” the report says, adding that Sri Lanka has been at the forefront of this movement to higher valueadded apparel production and the implementation of ethical trading practices, largely avoiding the media negativity experienced by its regional competitors. This report focuses on the complex interactions between industrial upgrading, ethical trading and their intersection with local institutional and historical attributes – features neglected in the literature on global governance regimes.