Ensuring freedoms

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, during his recent visit to Sri Lanka, raised multiple points where democratic and fundamental rights were being infringed on, even within the economic space. 

As pointed out by the official, while Sri Lanka has ratified ILO conventions 87 and 98 pertaining to freedom of association – the right to organise and collective bargaining – the implementation of these conventions remains underwhelming, with multiple reports of union busting and restrictions on collective bargaining.

The difference between trade unions in the public and private sector is pronounced, with a strict separation between the two. Public sector trade unions are forbidden to federalise with other trade unions, whether public or private, under Article 21 of the Trade Union Ordinance of 1935. Public sector trade unions also experience significant fragmentation within their own areas of work, with over 50 trade unions in some public sectors such as railways, leading to difficulties in obtaining representative status, which requires 40% of workers within a given field to be members of the trade union. This affects their collective bargaining power and has led to infighting and one-upmanship between them.

The National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) is not a legal entity and is rather a consultative body, comprised of government, employers, and representatives of the ‘most representative’ trade unions in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, the NLAC is seen as unrepresentative by many smaller trade unions, as the metrics on representivity used by the Government in appointing unions to the Council are unreliable, given the lack of a verification process on the part of the Government in determining the membership of trade unions.

The Special Rapporteur also said he was concerned by reports that the Department of Labour is seen to be pro-employer in the resolution of disputes in the private sector. This is due, in part, to a proclivity of the Department to be seen as pro-investment, and its desire to reduce obstacles to foreign capital and enterprise from entering the country. Concerns have also been raised regarding the failure of the Department to intervene in disputes in a timely fashion or to implement compromises which it had helped to broker.

Obstacles to freedom of association have been particularly reported in Free Trade Zones (FTZs), where interventions of the Department of Labour have been limited in practice.

The Government is currently in the process of attempting to codify existing labour laws (which number over 40) into a single unified employment law. The law has been met with stark opposition by trade unions due to its purported reduction of labour standards which were hard-fought for by unions. While the bill is said to not reduce any of the rights currently available to workers, it does not seek to improve conditions in any way, and in fact reduces limits on minimum terms and conditions for workers, such as maximum daily working hours. The bill would affect some 2.5 million workers and, when introduce, had been rejected by all trade union members of the NLAC.

Another obstacle to the effective implementation of workers’ rights is the heavy politicisation of trade unions, which limits the issues unions speak up on due to political sensitivities. The report while heartening in some aspects highlights the dire need to promote better labour standards in Sri Lanka, both to develop the economy and give fellow Sri Lankans a better standard of life.