The Government is gearing up to introduce new labour law reforms, aimed at the ongoing restructuring of the bloated public sector. Sri Lanka’s labour law’s have often been called archaic and ineffective, much like the state sector.

While the trade unions and the collective-political-left have been up in arms about labour law reforms, many in the private sector have welcomed the anticipated changes.  The “Trade Union’s” and the affiliated political network has long been one of the main challenges to labour law reforms. It is expected that most of the labour laws which are now applicable to private sector employees will be applied to state employees as well. Powerful trade union movements have over the last few decades derailed many reform agenda and key national policy plans. The energy insecurity Sri Lanka is facing today is one such issue, where trade unions began to dictate national policies, and even prevent key energy infrastructure projects from getting off the ground. The failure of the Ceylon Electricity Board to effectively integrate more renewable energy to the national power grid, is widely believed to have been aided by influence of the “Engineers” unions.

Currently, according to the law, in any state agency, if there are seven members who become a collective, they can form a trade union. It is learnt that such figures will be increased to 25-100. According to the Ministry of Labour, it is likely in the future that when the executive committee of the trade union decides to carry out a strike, they are supposed to have a poll among members to get their consent to carry out such action, explain the reason behind the strike, and obtain consensus exceeding the 50% margin.

The preparation of legal provisions to establish a paternity leave system for the first time in Sri Lanka in order to change the prevailing labour laws which do not suit the modern world. Further, the new legislation is expected to remove the existing inequalities in the Wages Boards Ordinance and the Shop and Office Employees (Regulation of Employment and Remuneration) Act and will in the future, treat everyone equally in order to prevent harassment in the workplace and all forms of sexual violence.  It is learned that the Government plans to introduce laws to prevent discrimination in the workplace.

Labour and Foreign Employment Ministry Advisor Shan Yahampath addressing a Colombo-based Economic conference yesterday (29) said that the new legislation will make way for state entities to sack non-performing public employees, a capacity which was not available before. As such, it is likely that new labour laws will introduce key performance indices (KPIs) to the state sector, and aid in the improvement of its efficiency while trimming the fat. Inefficiency and massive overheads of the state sector, eats away at state expenditure, reducing capacity to support critical functions, or improve performance in key sectors like Education, Heath, and Industry.   

Yahampath said, “It is easy to get a divorce in this country but not to terminate an employee, especially when one is not performing. So we have made it less complicated to terminate those who are not performing. This can be taken to the public sector as well, to see whether they are performing well or not.”   According to him, the new labour law reforms are to focus on three aspects; public corporations to come under the purview of labour law, trade union action and formation, and sacking of non-performing employees.  As such, the new labour law reforms are to focus on “rightsizing”, as the State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) had become a breeding ground for politicians to “dump people” for political expediency, while the majority of them are not competent in performing.

It is expected that the new laws may introduce a five-day work week and flexible working hours according to the employees’ wishes. The Government is also said to be working to make arrangements to provide the necessary provisions for women employees to work at night while subject to certain conditions.

However, irrespective of how much change labour laws would bring, it will ultimately be the political will and the administrators in the public sector who will enact the laws. As such, with a change in laws, a change in culture both political and in the workplace, and a change in ethics will be needed to ensure employees do their bit, and are treated fairly.