Government steers employees through COVID-19 crisis

As Sri Lanka faces an indefinite curfew in Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts and the whole country is under the COVID- 19 watch, the Government has initiated action to protect employees and address private sector business challenges and risks.

In response to a trade union request, Minister o f Labour Dinesh Gunawardena recently convened a special ministerial tripartite meeting and decided to appoint a tripartite task force to deal with matters arising of the COVID- 19 impact on workers and employers.

At the first ministerial level tripartite meeting, a decision was taken to direct employers to seek the consent of the Commissioner General of Labour if there is any need for the closure of the company because of the crisis, the Business Times learns. The need to encourage employees to work from home and preparing guidelines on occupational health to address the present crisis situation was emphasised by the participants at the meeting.

The Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC) had pledged to follow the instructions of the government carefully in the future as well. It was also agreed to continue essential services of the private sector that is important in the current situation and the country’s economy without compromising the health of the workers.

Minister Gunawardena noted that the government instructions on work from home should be interpreted in a broader sense.

The intention of the government is to let employees of essential and important sectors to continue while other sectors can consider work from home without resorting to a complete shutdown, he said.

“We need to ensure that essential services provided by the private sector continue without interruption for the purpose of meeting the needs of the public as well as workers of the private sector,” he added.

These details were revealed in the drafted minutes of the two ministerial level tripartite meetings held on March 17 and March 20, respectively. The EFC has also agreed to pay salaries and wages of private sector employees including the daily paid employees without considering their absence from duty as leave.

Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union (FTZ-GSEU) Joint Secretary Anton Marcus told the Business Times that trade unions will be making several requests for the benefit of apparel workers in addition to the decisions taken at the tripartite task force meeting.

Apparel companies are now compelled to declare holidays for workers with pay or not as the foreign buyers and reputed brands have withdrawn their orders.

Therefore the trade unions have requested the government to introduce COVID- 19 income support scheme to provide financial support to apparel workers and companies affected by the crisis.

They also proposed that any company which wants to temporarily close any factory to follow a legal mechanism to grant permission with conditions which include the payment of at least one month basic salary for employees in accordance with the Termination of Employment Act.

He said that the government should take the responsibility of ensuring the payment of back wages for employees if they reopen factories and all workers should be re-employed without any victimisation.