Trade unions, civil society groups say manpower workers in self-quarantine face crisis

• Call on Govt. to offer urgent relief

Thirteen trade unions and civil society groups working on behalf of FTZ and manpower workers are calling on the Government – Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour, the Presidential Task Force to combat COVID-19, the Board of Investment (BOI) and the Ministry Level (Tripartite) Task Force to respond to the impacts of COVID-19 on employment.

They listed the following urgent demands;

• To provide urgent relief rations, essentials and medicines to workers in mandatory self-quarantine. A list of some of the COVID funds received from corporates, foreign governments and IFIs to date can be seen at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ey0XU7JmEZLxd7enZhcxD0ZWgDNENfhVC63COVEDO-k/edit?usp=sharing. We trust that the Government utilise some of these funds to provide assistance to these workers and publicise a breakdown of how these funds have been utilised thus far. 
• To carry out an immediate survey/needs assessment of workers in and around the FTZs, including accurate information on manpower workers.
• To provide Rs. 10,000 health allowance for FTZ workers who have lost their jobs, or are currently unable to work due to COVID-19, including manpower workers.
• To carry out PCR testing on all workers, including manpower workers working in and around the Katunayake FTZs.
• To ensure that all Government quarantine facilities and hospitals treating COVID-19 patients are in keeping with international safety standards.
• To maintain a regular flow of risk communication, including what to expect in case of anyone in the boarding or factory being found to be COVID positive, or is showing symptoms, and details about Government response and emergency contacts. Ensure that all communication is shared in Sinhala and Tamil.
• To ensure workers taken to quarantine centres, in mandatory self-quarantine, and/or have not been able to go to work during the lockdown, are compensated.
• Publicise and enforce the tripartite agreement on compensation reached during lockdown, decided on at the Joint Task Force meeting.
• Strictly enforce safety regulations via Government health authorities when factories open and workers are asked to report to work.

The groups are Ceylon Bank Employees’ Union (CBE), Ceylon Federation of Trade Unions (CFTU), Ceylon Industrial Workers Union (CIWU), Ceylon Mercantile, Industrial and General Workers Union (CMU), Ceylon Teachers' Union (CTU), Dabindu Collective Sri Lanka, Katunayake, Liberation Movement, National Union of Seafarers in Sri Lanka (NUSS), Progressive Women’s Collective; Revolutionary Existence for human Development (RED) – Katunayake, Sramabimani Kendraya – Seeduwa, Standup Movement Lanka – Katunayake, and United Federation of Labour (UFL)

They said currently thousands of workers were facing a severe crisis as a result of what is considered to be the second wave of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka. 

This large cluster having originated at the Brandix factory in Minuwangoda, has now spread rapidly to other Free Trade Zones (FTZ), including Katunayake. 

Apart from the more than 1,000 workers who are currently being quarantined at Government quarantine centres run by the military, many workers have been told to self-quarantine within their respective hostels and boarding places. 

Hostel owners have been warned by the Police that legal action will be taken against them, if workers step out of their accommodation. However, as these workers were not given proper pre-warning, they have not been able to stock up on basic essentials, including food and medicines, and are therefore struggling to survive. 

Some of the areas worst affected are Katana DS division, Awariwatte, Jayewardenepura and Amandoluwa GS divisions, and Walana and Kowinna areas in the Gampaha District.  

Further, following the detection of COVID-19 positive workers from several factories located within the Katunayake FTZ, employees of these factories were barred from going in to work, and travel restrictions imposed on them from leaving their respective hostels. No entity has come forward to take responsibility for these workers, and see to their welfare.  Their inability to report to work is being seen by their employers as a fault of theirs. Certain factories where there has been a rapid spread of the virus have only provided some relief rations to their employees, whilst other employees have been abandoned and left to fend for themselves or starve. 

Approximately 300-400 manpower and other daily wage workers from in and around the Katunayake area, that the trade unions and civil society groups are aware of, are undergoing mandatory self-quarantine at their places of residence.

A week or two ago, when someone was tested positive at a hostel or shared accommodation, workers from all hostels in the immediate vicinity were rounded-up, herded into buses and taken to military-run quarantine centres around the country (i.e. Kalutara, Dambadeniya, Peradeniya, etc.), many of which were unsanitary and not in keeping with basic COVID-19 safety standards. Workers who’ve tested positive at these centres have been sent to Neville Fernando Hospital in Malabe. 

Now, only those who’ve been tested positive are taken for treatment, whilst those residing in the vicinity are asked to self-quarantine. Government officials place a sticker on their gates that they are under self-quarantine. 

Workers are being confined within four walls and behind a gate, without even being provided with their basic necessities. Manpower agency workers have been made particularly vulnerable under these circumstances, as there is no official body that can be held accountable for their upkeep.