• Notes need for sustainable/youth entrepreneurship, worker welfare, better living conditions, enhanced female participation
• SLASSCOM urges relaxing work hours, night work for females
• Apparel industry calls for social security network, increasing worker ETF contribution by 1%

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) yesterday (10) announced that it will give its fullest support to introduce a simple, strong and updated labour law system in Sri Lanka.

Speaking at the second public session of the Influx platform, the official platform introduced by the Ministry of Labour and Foreign Employment to gather public views on labour law reforms, held at the Ministry yesterday, Legal Advisor to the BASL on labour laws, Attorney Kanishka Weerasinghe expressed these views on behalf of the BASL. “The labour law should be changed urgently as it will directly affect the economic development of the country, and an updated labour law system must be created to replace the current labour laws. The labour laws which are to be implemented should be capable of creating an environment that supports sustainable entrepreneurship, the welfare of workers and the opportunity to create better living conditions,” he said.

Weerasinghe also said that new laws should pave the way for the enhancement of female labour force participation and youth entrepreneurship while replacing outdated laws such as the Termination of Employment of Workmen (Special Provisions) Act.

Meanwhile, Shanaka Fernando of the Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) also pointed out the need to relax the strict rules regarding work hours and giving females the opportunity to work at night.

The General Secretary of the Joint Apparel Association Forum Sri Lanka (JAAFSL), Yohan Lawrence pointed out the importance of working to prepare a social security network and increasing the contribution of the employees to the Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF) by 1%.