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Post-Covid-19 job losses high in apparel sector 

21 Mar 2021

  • Census survey on pvt. sector underway  

By Yumiko Perera    The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a large number of private sector employees losing their jobs, particularly in the apparel sector, The Sunday Morning learnt.  There is a significant rise in such complaints from the apparel sector, Commissioner General of Labour Prabath K. Chandrakeerthi told The Sunday Morning.  The Labour Department recently commenced a census to collect information on private sector employees who had lost their jobs (including due to termination) during the pandemic period.  Commissioner General Chandrakeerthi noted: “If an employee is being terminated, under the Termination of Employment of Workmen (Special Provisions) Act No. 45 of 1971, the employee should be compensated. We have received a lot of complaints from the apparel sector. There was a recent incident in Payagala, where 132 employees had been terminated in a mass termination incident.”  Highlighting that there is a lack of availability of accurate statistics as to how many people had lost employment owing to the pandemic, the Commissioner General said: “Even the Department of Census and Statistics does not have accurate statistics as to how many people in the private sector had lost their jobs due to Covid-19. That is why we encourage the public to send us their information, so that we would be able to provide them with some sort of relief through concessions.”  He further added: “Although only a small number of people have sent in their details so far, we encourage more people to get in touch with us regarding the matter. There are approximately 25,000 organisations in the private sector all across the island, according to a survey we conducted previously, where only 1,000 or so organisations from a variety of sectors managed to give us feedback. We are hoping that the new census would give us more insight as to how many people have lost their jobs due to the pandemic.”  Individuals who have been terminated or have lost their employment due to Covid-19 and during the pandemic period are encouraged to submit their details to the Labour Department by post, before 1 April. The details include their name, personal address, contact details, the date of termination, details of the former employer and the last drawn salary.  The public can obtain further information on the census survey by contacting the Labour Department on 0112368502.  Attempts by The Sunday Morning to contact the Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association for comment proved futile.   

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