Usual Labour Day rallies organised by several groups including politicians and trade unions filled several main roads in the country with politicians, workers, and activists yesterday (01). As on every year’s Labour Day, they talked about how workers should be protected and strengthened, and what the Government’s role in it is. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa too had issued their usual Labour Day statements, covering more or less the same topics.

There was a time when Labour Day rallies and politicians’ statements had some value, a value that emanated from the need for solutions to workers’ issues. However, with the unprecedented impacts of the economic crisis on businesses, workers, household economies and the quality of life of the workers, workers’ issues have changed, mostly for the worse, and consequently, the solutions that they sought have changed. They now have demands that go beyond their traditional demand such as salary hikes, promotions or handouts. That is because economic challenges that emerged during the past year (2022) have brought to the surface a number of issues that existed for a long time, but had been neglected or subdued by temporary solutions.

One of the main such issues is the lack of job security for informal sector workers, who, as per both local and international studies, constitute the majority of the country’s overall workforce, and in real life, indirectly support the existence of the formal sector in various ways. Amidst the economic downturn and also in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, from small scale street vendors to those who export goods, and provide services faced various issues, including unsystematic and disproportionate pay cuts, layoffs with no proper compensation or adequate notice, the lack of access to the existing mechanisms to get justice in the event of unfair or harmful treatment, and in cases such as commercial sex work, a severe inability to continue their jobs.

The country’s private sector’s issues also attracted attention during the past few months. These concerns emanated mainly from private sector workers that come under the middle income group, who are not eligible for social security programmes, and have limited opportunities to strike in order to get salary hikes or other forms of relief, and do not have the financial ability to withstand the impacts of the economic crisis. Layoffs and pay cuts were a common sight in the private sector, which resulted in those with substantial educational qualifications and experience seeking foreign jobs.

These issues were the beginning of another issue, as the pressing and urgent need among both formal and informal sector workers to find greener pastures abroad resulted in many leaving the country through unofficial channels and with no assurance of their job or personal safety. Economic issues among workers of certain sectors that continue to remain major contributors to the economy despite having been in disadvantaged situations for decades, including estate sector workers, fisher folk and those in the agriculture sector, have worsened dramatically, and they have not received much support other than promises and plans.

This is high time that the Government takes seriously the economic importance and the plight of the informal sector and the private sector. If the Government is serious about economic resuscitation, it is a must, as these sectors contribute more to the economy than the public sector, which in many cases win their demands through strikes and are entitled to many forms of allowances to support themselves economically. While it is understandable that what the Government could do with the available resources is limited, policy and regulatory steps and the better management of resources alone could help the country achieve considerable results. For example, creating some sort of job security for informal sector workers is largely a matter of introducing guidelines, regulations and policies followed by raising awareness and the proper implementation of the relevant laws or regulations. Finding innovative ways to raise awareness among and providing vocational training through existing vocational training centres to those who want to go abroad despite having no adequate qualifications would also reduce the number of people that go abroad illegally, which will in turn ensure their personal and job safety.

Although discussions on a minimum age of retirement and a pension for the private sector started some time ago, those discussions remain in limbo, while the Government’s requests to the private sector to increase private sector workers’ salaries in accordance with inflation have not received attention. What is more, despite the grim reality that the majority of Sri Lankans are in poverty and many are on the brink of poverty, the country has not paid attention to introducing a minimum wage. It is time to find ways to deal with these issues, and the Government making genuine attempts and being innovative could solve a considerable share of these issues.

Not Labour Day statements, but genuine attempts with the resources that the country has, could change a lot of lives of workers and also the economy.