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Legal framework outdated, enacted in 1876: Nimal Siripala de Silva

14 Aug 2021

  • Decline noted in child labour and children in hazardous jobs
  • Proposal to Cabinet to declare child labour under hazardous jobs
  • Focus on registration of domestic workers with EPF and ETF
  • Fair labour standards and facilities for domestic workers
  • Looking at setting up disaster relief fund to support workers
  • Labour Commissioner receives 12,000 applications on Covid job losses
By Yoshitha Perera In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sri Lanka’s labour market has been severely disrupted. With the recent reported incidents among domestic workers, the Government’s focus has shifted to creating new laws to provide a safe and fair working environment for domestic workers. In an interview with The Sunday Morning, Minister of Labour Nimal Siripala de Silva, touching on these issues, also explained the Government’s policies, programmes, and efforts to upgrade the country’s internal and external labour market. Following are excerpts of the interview. Registration of all domestic workers at relevant district labour offices has been made mandatory. How and when would the programme be implemented? At the moment, we don’t have proper legislation to take action against this issue. The existing legal framework is outdated and it was enacted in 1876. However, none of the rights of the domestic workers, such as working conditions and salaries, have been tackled in the prevailing legal framework. Therefore, what I envisage is to draft a comprehensive Act which makes the registration of a domestic worker mandatory. The registration has to be done with the labour officer in the relevant area. Accordingly, the relevant officer will be able to ensure that the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and the Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF) payments are being paid to domestic workers. To enact this, we have to bring another regulation under the Wages Boards Ordinance and formulate a wages board for domestic workers as well. We also have the National Minimum Wage of Workers Act and we are considering amending the Act by including a special minimum wage for domestic workers. After implementing these regulations, the employer is liable to pay EPF and ETF for domestic workers. With regard to ensuring fair labour standards for domestic workers in the future, how would this be implemented and what are the current measures taken by the Government? If you take employees in other places, they are entitled to gratuity payment if they have served more than five years. Even when it comes to domestic workers, some people serve for more than 20 years at one place. We want to make the gratuity payment for these employees mandatory. It can’t be retrospective, but after implementing the new Act, the employer will be aware that they have to pay gratuity after the employee exceeds a certain period. At the same time, we want to ensure their working conditions are humane. In some places, animals and pets are treated better than domestic workers. As an employee, the domestic worker is also entitled to standard working facilities, and to ensure these facilities, the government has to form legislation under social peace. Steps will be taken to ensure fair labour standards for domestic workers in future. Simultaneously, I will introduce a Code of Conduct for domestic workers in order to ensure the quality of service provided by such workers. I had a meeting with a few domestic workers’ trade unions last Tuesday (10) and MPs Suren Raghavan, V. Radakrishnan, and some lawyers joined this meeting. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is also providing their support to create this Act. As the first initiative, I want to take the advice and opinions from these parties and formulate a concept paper. After implementing a concept paper, I will take it to the Cabinet and get approval to commence the drafting process. This is a long-standing issue, and ensuring a fair and safe working environment for domestic workers is one of my main concerns now. The National Steering Committee on Elimination of Child Labour was formed by the Ministry of Labour. What have the relevant committees moved to eliminate child labour with the recently reported incidents? In Sri Lanka, there is a drastic decline in child labour and children in hazardous forms of labour. We have only about 1%. To eliminate that, we have obtained assistance from the Sri Lanka Girl Guides’ Association and the Samurdhi movement, since they are aware of the families in need in the country. We are focusing on every sector in order to ensure the elimination of child labour. We have also proposed to increase the minimum age of labour from 16 to 18. I have also brought domestic child labour under the hazardous jobs category. Accordingly, the people can’t employ a person below the age 18 as a domestic worker. This regulation went to the Cabinet last Monday (9) and the Minister of Finance wanted some time for observation. Once the observations are completed, we can impose the regulation immediately to increase the minimum age limit for labour. As such, no one will be allowed to hire a person below the age 18 for hazardous jobs. What are the relief and economic recovery measures that would be introduced by the Government to upgrade severely disrupted economies and labour markets in the country? At the moment, limited foreign exchange is the main problem in the country. Even with the Covid-19 pandemic, our foreign remittances have not been affected. We managed to keep remittances at the same level. At the present situation, there are a lot of people who are waiting to work in Korea, Israel, Japan, and Middle Eastern countries. However, those countries have certain new rules and regulations with the ongoing spread of Covid-19 pandemic, especially when it comes to the vaccination process. With the rapid spread of the Delta variant in the country, Sri Lanka has been added to the red list by most of the foreign countries. These countries are also specific with the vaccine and most of them allow the people who got Pfizer, AstraZeneca, or Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Currently, there are 8,000 people who are waiting to travel overseas for jobs. Accordingly, I had managed to get the relevant vaccine from the Ministry of Health for those who are immediately travelling for foreign jobs, and nearly 8,000 people have been administered a specific vaccine at the Army Hospital. They have to wait for a month to obtain the second dose, after which they can travel overseas immediately for jobs. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa also directed authorities to give priority to the people who travel overseas for jobs and to provide them with a suitable vaccine. I also received information that there are another 12,000 people who are waiting to travel abroad for jobs. We can provide a relevant specific vaccine for them as well. The next thing is the export industry and the garment industry. Our garment factories have also been affected with the spread of Covid-19. With the previous global economic situation, we didn’t get sufficient orders, but at present, we are getting sufficient orders to upgrade our exports market. After receiving the necessary health recommendations and advice, our apparel sector has started again and eventually, we can see a growth in the export sector. What of the salary and compensation agreements the Government had entered into with the private sector with the current Covid-19 situation? Earlier, we had entered into a tripartite agreement with the private sector, and according to the relevant agreement, people who cannot report to work due to the Covid-19 situation were permitted to stay at home and entitled to a half salary or Rs. 14,500 – whatever is higher. However, last month, we reversed that agreement and introduced a compensation package to the people who are losing their jobs. Accordingly, the relevant factory or company owner has to come and register the employees who are losing their jobs at the Labour Department to receive the particular compensation package. I had increased this particular compensation package from Rs. 1.2 million to Rs. 2.5 million. Although we asked the public to write to the Commissioner of Labour if they have lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 situation, we didn’t receive many applications. We only received 12,000 applications. Is there any move to create a disaster relief fund to aid employees in a situation like this? Yes. At present, we are seeking consultation assistance, and we are having discussions with the ILO on how to create a disaster relief fund. We will speak to trade unions and employers’ federations to get their input as well. Especially, for migrant workers, we are formulating a pension scheme. They contribute in a massive way to develop the country’s economy. At the moment, we are studying how to implement this fund since we have to collect sufficient amounts to pay the recipients. These are the neglected areas in the labour sector and we want to ensure people will receive sufficient temporary compensations during a disaster like Covid-19 and also pensions for migrant workers as a long-term financial solution. What is the present situation on bringing back stranded migrant workers? There are no stranded migrant workers. People are creating a huge issue that there are people in Lebanon who want to come back. Accordingly, we asked the Sri Lankan Mission in Lebanon to collect the numbers and register them. We sent five flights to Lebanon and no one came in those flights – they didn’t want to come. We have already evacuated nearly 83,000 migrant workers. Now, things are settling down and there is no demand from the people to come back to Sri Lanka, except those who are coming for short visits or vacations. How is the Government ensuring the welfare and protection of migrant workers during the Covid-19 pandemic period with the existing labour provisions in the country? If these migrant workers are registered with the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLFEB), they have an insurance facility. We had paid the people who claimed the insurance facility during the pandemic period. However, there are people who are working abroad illegally and we can’t be responsible for them. We would make a regulation by making the obtaining of the insurance mandatory, especially for people who are going to work in Middle Eastern countries. This insurance will cover their medical expenses, emergency needs for a family member, air ticket expenses (if they are unlawfully terminated from their jobs), and legal fees. What plans have been put forth by the Government to create new employment opportunities in the country? I have no mandate to create new working opportunities; there are other ministries that have to consider creating new working opportunities. We are working collaboratively, if any ministry needs assistance for training programmes, especially vocational training. We are planning to launch a training programme with the ILO to train nearly 1,000 people who would prefer to go for overseas jobs, as well as people who are working in Sri Lanka. People also have to put some energy and participate in these programmes. The problem is that people hesitate to obtain the required qualifications.


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