The five-day week, holidays and the views of employers

Some have queried from me, knowing my interest in the subject, whether the position is that employers now prefer a five day week to working the traditional five-and-a-half days.

There was an interview with some tripartite representatives which has caused some confusion. I think the present Director General Pieris, who is currently abroad, was not speaking in general but was speaking about a special need which had arisen when specific factories were faced with a lack of orders and it seemed prudent to extend the hours from Monday to Friday and take the Saturday as an additional weekly holiday rather than as a half day.

He mentions the problems arising from the eight hour working day norm, which is advocated by the ILO and part of our law. The issue was one of compliance to meet global standards and had as its underlying principle that no production time should in fact be lost.

However, even under the Fuel Conservation Law No. 11 of 1978 (this was preceded by Emergency Regulations), which was introduced due to the oil shocks of that time, the Government permitted the extension of the eight hours by 45 minutes per day in order to provide for a five day week.

This law still holds good for companies which existed at the relevant date (11 February 1977) and were not in an excluded trade. Companies which were working five-and-a-half days on fixed hours (shift workers were excluded) were covered.

It excluded for example shops and hotels and also exporters of agricultural produce. It also excluded those companies which had already started a five day week voluntarily, such as some multinationals.

At that time too employers did not like the State restricting the normal working week to five days. Since the law applied only to companies which existed at the relevant date in 1977, many new companies were formed purely to avoid the five day week law.

There are however some employers who voluntarily observe a five day week by agreement with unions or their employees direct and the EFC has termed them ‘normal five day week employers’ to distinguish them from others who are forced to work only five days.

I am sure no employer wants the State to impose a five day week regime. If it is practical, an employer would gladly negotiate with employees for a five day week with flexibility to work five-and-a-half days when required, which is a different thing.

In the companies that the EFC had in mind, I believe the issue was more one of compliance with the law in relation to the daily hours of work, as required by foreign buyers as happens in the apparel industry, and one should not confuse the issue with a general movement towards a five day week.

I read an article yesterday in which the National Chamber of Exporters had been harping on the problems of too many holidays in Sri Lanka. I think most employers would agree with this. What employers would like to see is flexibility to meet market requirements whilst compensating employees on a fair basis which does not make them uncompetitive.

Regarding the holidays, perhaps one solution would be to give an increase in the number of days paid leave to compensate for at least some of the days lost, so that if, for example, an employee wishes to take a holiday on a religious or cultural holiday, the employee could take it as leave but if the preference is to come to work, he/she could do so.

This would result in the organisation itself having the opportunity to regard that day as a normal working day for its business activities. There could also be a provision to buy back this additional leave which could further enhance the number of man-days available.

Franklyn Amerasinghe