A group of individuals and organisations representing the civil society, and trade unions have called for the immediate reinstatement of the United Federation of Labour (UFL) and its representative, attorney and Commercial and Industrial Workers Union (CIWU) President Swasthika Arulingam in the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC).
The NLAC is a tripartite, national-level body consisting of employers’ organisations, unions, and the Government, convened to consult and cooperate on policies affecting workers.
Issuing a statement in this regard, they called for the increase of the representation of female-led trade unions and female unionists within the NLAC to consult the female labour force and female-led labour collectives on all labour law and policy reforms.
They further claimed that employers are heavily lobbying the Ministry of Labour to remove protections for women who engage in night work and advocating for legal changes to weaken social security nets, encourage a culture of hire-and-fire, and remove maternity related protections.
“Minister of Labour Manusha Nanayakkara has taken the extraordinary step to remove the only woman on the NLAC. In this role, Arulingam strongly advocated against policies to remove labour protections for women. She has also pushed for the inclusion of more unions and particularly female-led unions into the NLAC. As an attorney, her legal expertise was an enormous asset in negotiations on labour regulations and policies. The presence of such a person is important at a time when the working poor and particularly females are languishing in poverty. In mid May, Nanayakkara, in a move to reconstitute the NLAC, imposed arbitrary criteria relating to unions’ membership in order to qualify for nominations and appointment. The only legal criterion for the selection of organisations and unions is that they be the ‘most representative’. We are shocked and dismayed that the only female and capable representative of the workers has been prevented from serving on the NLAC. We believe her to be the best representative to serve the interests and concerns of all female workers, particularly at this time of enormous economic crisis. This exclusion is a serious undermining of female labour rights. The NLAC should not be an exclusive body which has members selected at the whim and fancy of the Minister of Labour. Neither should membership strength be the sole criterion for inclusion into the NLAC as this leaves out many sectors which have a weakened union membership due to the extensive union busting and the unfair labour practices of employers, particularly in the export sector which employs many women.”