The Inter Company Employees Union (ICEU) today urged the government to take necessary measures to ban the recruitment of workers through manpower agencies.
Addressing the media today at the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR), Maradana General Secretary of the ICEU Janaka Adikari said that the Inter Company Employees Union will not hesitate to take stern trade union action and use the full power to solve this issue if the Government does not solve it soon.
He stressed that they are ready to take all possible measures that could be taken within the democratic framework to put an end to this menace.
He charged that the illegal manpower slavery system has become a threat to the basic trade union rights of the employers.
He said that the rights to form and join trade unions, to collectively bargain and to strike are universal human rights. The manpower agencies completely violate these basic labor rights of these workers.
Man power workers are afraid to voice their opinion as it would put their employment in danger since any protest could lead to a transfer or losing the opportunity to work at that company. This system has created a safer environment for the employers to get the maximum use of manpower workers without fulfilling their basic labor rights. Manpower agencies sell people to the companies and earn money.
Profit making is the only purpose of hiring workers from manpower agencies. Under this system the real employer of the company become free from the responsibility of labor rights. They have limited access to social protection, receive low wages and have substantial obstacles in joining a trade union or bargaining collectively.
Hiring workers from manpower agencies has been common practice in the private sector. Companies prefer hiring manpower workers since it is convenient for them as there are no direct responsibilities towards these workers.
The government is also promoting this and some state institutions such as Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), state banks, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), the Water Board and the Central Bank have begun widely recruiting manpower workers.
Some claims that recruiting workers through manpower agencies is a legal process which is coming under the fee-charging employment ordinance. Though there is an Act call fee-charging employment act, no regulations have been gazetted so far to make it effective the Act. The prevailing procedure of registering companies has created background for anybody to start a manpower company without mentioning their purpose.
Add new comment