Workers Charter returns to haunt President
The Workers Charter ( WC), the chief architect of which was President Mahinda Rajapaksa as Labour Minister in 1994, has come to haunt him again in a dispute with the Mahinda Chinthana policy.
The National Labour Advisory Council ( NLAC) at its monthly meeting on Tuesday decided to ask the government to clarify labour issues in these two policies, union officials said.
Labour Minister Gamini Lokuge, who chaired the meeting, said he would submit a cabinet paper seeking clarification on these issues, said Ceylon Federation of Labour President T.M.R. Rasseedin who was present at the meeting.
“However the minister also said the environment has changed now and we need to move with the times,” Mr. Raseedin said.
Unions have been canvassing before the NLAC for amendments to be made to the Industrial Disputes Act ( IDA) to bring it in line with the WC. “We had several rounds of discussions in which employers said they were opposed to the WC,” he said.
On Tuesday, veteran trade unionist Bala Tampoe, on behalf of all unions, raised the issue again and wanted the IDA amendments. However Employers Federation Director- General Ravi Peiris cited some sections in the Mahinda Chintana ( MC) which specifies flexible labour rules, and noted that the WC is no longer valid and employers were following the MC policy document.
Unions want ILO Convention 87 and 89, which provides powers to trade unions, to be incorporated in the IDA to legitimise the WC.
In 1995, Mr. Rajapaksa as Labour Minister presented the WC, a promise made by Chandrika Kumaratunga’s People’s Alliance at 1994 elections. But the business community opposed the daft and succeeded in throwing it out. Mr. Rajapaksa, hailed as a hero by the working class, was moved to the Fisheries portfolio.
Other unionists said the president has to decide between two policy documents that he has been responsible for. “This is like being between the devil and the deep blue sea,” quipped one official.
Mr. Lokuge was not available for comment.